‘DVD Jon’ hacks into the iPhone

Post by **Anthro** » 06 Jul 2007, 11:30

New claims Apple’s iPhone can be activated without AT&T’s compulsory two-year service deal.

The hacker behind the cracking of DVD’s Content Scrambling System (CSS) has developed a way to hack an iPhone to enable it to be used as an iPod with WiFi connectivity yet without the need for AT&T’s service deal.

According to his blog, So Sue Me, Johansen found out the information the iPhone uses to activate itself via the iTunes software.

By adding a new server entry to the host file in Windows, plus creating his own Phone Activation Server application, Johansen says he is able to activate an iPhone for use as an iPod and wireless device without the phone capability. While he doesn’t give full instructions, the information is there to enable the activation of an iPhone.

At the moment, Phone Activation Server is an 8KB download but currently only works with Microsoft Windows and requires .NET Framework 2.0 to be installed.

While Phone Activation Server does not allow the iPhone to work on other phone networks, it is likely only a matter of time before someone works out how to fully crack the iPhone and enables it to work on any phone service.

Jon Lech Johansen came to prominence in 1999 when he reverse-engineered the DVD content scrambling system using PC-based DVD playback software. His DeCSS code immediately became one of the most popular hacking source-codes and formed the basis of many DVD ripping and copying tools.

Johansen eventually found himself not only in the limelight but also in court for computer hacking however he was finally acquitted of all charges after two trials and a number of appeals. His defense was that he owned the DVDs he was copying and at the time, Norway’s laws allowed DVD data to be copied for personal use.

The iPhone has not only become hot property for users but also for those looking to hack into the iPhone and see what makes it work. Already, video clips have appeared on YouTube showing the phone’s deconstruction as its internal parts are dissected and diagnosed for the hacking potential.

While Johansen’s hack utilizes a separate piece of software, a simpler hack that is being developed is to use any SIM card to run the iPhone on any cellphone service although while it has been heavily reported, no such hack has yet been developed.

The team from iPhone Dev Wiki, however, is looking to do this. In the meantime, the group has just released a similar tool to Johansen’s Phone Activation Server called iPhoneActivatorTool. The difference here is that the code is a universal binary and only works on a Mac PC or notebook.

According to iPhone Dev Wiki, this patch will allow the phone to be used as an iPod and WiFi device without cellphone capability. It will also enable users to deactivate an iPhone as well. The download is a simple “tool.zip” file that also is 8KB in size.

Source: Techlogg

Mikdog · Post by **Mikdog** » 06 Jul 2007, 13:36

Post by **Anthro** » 06 Jul 2007, 13:38

I like this part:

Jon Lech Johansen came to prominence in 1999 when he reverse-engineered the DVD content scrambling system using PC-based DVD playback software. His DeCSS code immediately became one of the most popular hacking source-codes and formed the basis of many DVD ripping and copying tools.

Johansen eventually found himself not only in the limelight but also in court for computer hacking however he was finally acquitted of all charges after two trials and a number of appeals. His defense was that he owned the DVDs he was copying and at the time, Norway’s laws allowed DVD data to be copied for personal use.