Gizmodo Australia » pwned

New Version of Pwnage Arrives as Apple Tightens Security

Jesus Diaz — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:02:00 +0000

We told you that the new Pwnage—the iPhone Dev Team tool to automatically hack legal Apple firmwares to free iPhone by making them fully customisable, open and unlocked—version was imminent and here it is. Gizmodo got early access to the software and it works great. But there is bad news brewing up: Apple is gearing up to battle the hackers big time.

Apart from the previous unlocking and jailbreaking, the new version has three main features:

• Easily customisable images for start and restore screens.
• You can use packages to customise your firmware and install software right away, on one single update.
• You can now pwn iPhone 1.2.0 beta 3.

We also got confirmation of what we already hinted last week: Apple is preparing up to battle the hackers, with more and more code running signed and secured inside the iPhone. This will make things more difficult for the iPhone Dev Team.

How much more difficult? Would this be a real challenge to the iPhone Dev Team’s current dominance in the hacking war? According to them, it may be. But it just makes things more interesting and fun, which is exactly what we wanted to hear.

Get your update now. [iPhone Dev Team]

Adobe Knew of Vista PWN 2 OWN Hack All Along

Haroon Malik — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 20:30:00 +0000

The PWN 2OWN contest, as we all know, saw the Mac OS X weed crumble first, with Vista following soon after. Ubuntu was the only OS that was impenetrable to attack, but news is surfacing that Vista should have had a longer lifeline, if only Adobe had patched the flaw they knew about all along.

Yup, it’s true; Adobe not only knew about the security flaw that Shane Macaulay used to hack Vista, they even had a patch prepared. Only thing is, they hadn’t got round to releasing it. In fact, the patch was scheduled for release in the next Flash Player update later in the month.

Thankfully, Adobe were not in the dark about the security risk, however, if they were in the know, don’t you guys think they have a responsibility to release the fix ASAP? Putting our systems at unnecessary risk due to our choice to support third party software just doesn’t seem fair. Further, asking for system stability and security to be made a priority should be a given at all times, or so we reckon. Worse still, the defect may have cost Vista the title of impenetrable OS, and that’s gonna hurt the MS fanboys dearly. After all, imagine if OS X had been the only hacked operating system; we think said fanboys may have had something to brag about, or at least a reason to punch Mr Smug Mac in his face. [Ars Technica]

Pwnage iPhone Unlocking and Hacking Tool Now Available, Works Great

Jesus Diaz — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 08:21:53 +0000

After some delays, the iPhone Pwnage tool—which is used to flash your iPhone with hacked firmware that will allow you to run any application, use it unlocked in any compatible mobile phone network, and basically do whatever you want do to with it, is now available for download. I have been testing this and previous versions for a few weeks now and it works well, but you will need a 2.0 version of the iPhone firmware to try the latest and greatest.

Pwnage is extremely simple to use. First you have to back up your iPhone data using iTunes.

Then, connect the iPhone, select the firmware from your hard drive and iPwn the iPhone. Pwnage will upload the new firmware to the iPhone and that’s that: the tool will take care of everything and, in a few minutes, your iPhone will be ready to go.

I tried this with the latest modified version of iPhone firmware update 1.2.0 and it works as good as with the previous version. So go ahead, punks, and make Steve’s day.

Note: if by any chance you come across a pwned version of the latest 2.0 firmware, my advice is not to use this version, as this Apple beta is not as stable as I wish. Instead, use the previous beta, which worked perfectly. [iPhone Dev Team]

T Pities Fool Who Bids on Hacked Fujitsu U810 With Live Virus “Still Present”

Wilson Rothman — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:15:00 +0000

Shane Macaulay, the hacker who beat a Vista-powered Fujitsu in last week’s CanSec West PWN 2 OWN contest has listed the UMPC—with virus “still likely present”—on eBay. Some say this might be Macaulay’s idea of a joke, but T doesn’t think it’s funny when hackers joke around with exploits, especially an Adobe Flash exploit that might “affect 90 percent of computers worldwide.” Mac’s alleged rationale:

This laptop is a good case study for any forensics group/company/individual that wants to prove how cool they are, and a live example, not canned of what a typical incident responce sitchiation [sic] would look like.

Note: We can’t spot an April 1 listing of any Fujitsu U810 on eBay. [InfoWorld]

iPhone Pwnage Tool to Be Released Tomorrow Someday

Haroon Malik — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 03:00:00 +0000

The iPhone Dev Team’s Pwnage tool is set for public release tomorrow. The tool allows you to upgrade any iPhone with the latest firmware from Apple, modified to make it work with any compatible carrier in any part of the world, and install any application, as well as adding custom payloads, additional software like SSH, FTP, and other applications.

Update: Due to legalities the Pwnage tool has been delayed. We’ll keep you updated with any release information as we get it. [iPhone Dev Team]

Latest iPhone 2.0 Firmware Unlocked Again in 24 Hours

Jesus Diaz — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 14:24:53 +0000

The iPhone Dev Team has demonstrated that Apple will probably have a very difficult time patching the iPhone to thwart their efforts: not even 24 hours after the release of the latest update for the iPhone firmware 1.2.0 (or 2.0, as The Steve calls it,) they sent us this picture showing that they have pwned it again, getting it to work completely unlocked, and run all applications. As they told us: “Apple will not really be able to patch it this time.” Check the new Contacts application, which was in the Touch and seems to have been revealed in this latest revision. More pictures after the jump.

[Hackint0sh]