iPhone 7 Claimed To Have Been Jailbroken In Just 24 Hours

Jailbreaking iPhones is like a game of cat and mouse. Each new update, especially major ones, patch up holes and flaws that jailbreakers use to gain full access to the device and the OS. So, naturally, when the iPhone 7 came out with iOS 10, the belief was that it would be considerably harder to pry open. Harder? Yes. Considerably? Apparently not, as a certain 19 year old hacker by the name of Luca Todesco claims he was able to jailbreak the iPhone 7 in just 24 hours. Unfortunately for the jailbreaking community, he isn't sharing it just yet.

Todesco admits that Apple has indeed made it harder to find exploits that would make jailbreaking possible, but it is far from being the holy grail of a 100% secure system. Then again, nothing really is. Last Wednesday, he proved to the world just how true that statement is, first with a screenshot of root access via a terminal app, and then with a photo of the iPhone running the Cydia jailbreak app store.

He even released a video to further prove that admittedly unbelievable 24-hour claim.

Given his popularity in the hacking community, even an Apple representative believes it to be possible.

But unlike jailbreakers like Pangu, Todesco isn't releasing his jaiilbreaking method to the public immediately. He is mulling over submitting the jailbreak to Apple's new bug bounty program. Or at least he is waiting for Apple to patch up the vulnerabilities first. He did, however, express interest in a more automated kind of jailbreaking that only required clicking on a link in Safari. Which means it could also be more dangerous.

Although it hasn't completely died out, jailbreaking has become less and less en vogue in recent years, both due to Apple addressing pain points, removing the need for some hacks, as well as the growing difficulty in keeping up with security fixes. And with the more intense focus on malware and spying on iOS devices, some have also started to question whether jailbreaking is still worth the risk of getting hacked.

VIA: Motherboard