That's putting a lot of trust in Apple. What else can they do when the is off.
"Consisting of a "pad-like device," store employees place unopened iPhone boxes onto it to trigger an update. The pad wirelessly turns on the iPhone, runs the software update, then turns it off again."
As in without contact with the device.
Wood you be ok if this capability could only be activated at super-closer range (wireless charging range) and only worked on iPhones that have not been activated?
We don’t know if that is how this works, but I would be comfortable with this feature if that’s how it works.
And that's obviously how it works. Maybe it will then enable wifi instead of sending data through wireless charging but that's it. And then it would turn itself off. Still what you can do is what Apple could do before putting it into the box. Again, obviously
I fail to see how this is concerning (to put it politely)
* When an iPhone comes from the factory, it's not really off-off, it's just in standby mode. Probably true to some extent in any case?
* If battery is above 50%, try to connect to a special Apple Store wifi network with a known signature. (Wifi has to have this kind of feature, right?)
* If you're connected, check for updates and apply any that apply.
* Go back to sleep.
Easy peasy. Bonus points if you can wirelessly charge them through the box, but honestly apple stores probably go through enough product it doesn't even matter.
And phones can definitely sit around for many months, at the warehouse and the store.
So what you get is a mechanism that wirelessly, without any confirmation, modifies the software on your device and "only" requires proximity. That seems like a great angle of attack for malware, surveillance, cracking a stolen phone,... . You are free to believe that apple implemented this perfectly bug free, but I would not be surprised if we get a CVE related to this in a few years.
> that wirelessly, without any confirmation, modifies the software on your device and "only" requires proximity
Running an update is different than "modifying the software". It is possible that such an update just wipes everything on the phone as well
Apple clearly take security very seriously. There’s no way this would be left enabled after someone sets up the iPhone.
I don't get it? What do you think does Samsung do when you send over your device for repair? Ever got asked for a passcode by them?
Maybe you don't install any updates over the entire device lifetime? Okay but what if the firmware runs a keylogger? You always need to put a ton of trust into the company.
They could enable 24/7 recording, lie to the OS about what is happening and trickle the data back server-side within harmless iCloud requests. It would be pretty much undetectable.
And the point of CSAM client-side is that it is more secure and private than them doing it server-side.
What can be more insecure and not at all private than scanning user files using user's computer resources? Server-side scanning is impossible if E2EE.
You see this as a simple trusting apple because they have complete control over the OS/Hardware. I see this as a culture shift that goes beyond trusting any particular company that fundamentally erodes privacy.
Of course, they could lie and scan everything, but as others pointed out, they could do that already anyway.
As much as I oppose client-side scanning, having a single global hash database makes it much harder for a company to do special favors without anyone knowing.
Would you mind expanding upon that?
The fact that you have a phone in and of itself is traceable, as cell phone towers maintain records of who, when, and where. At this point, usage of such records is so commonplace by LEO that not having your phone with you when you do something is considered suspicious in and of itself.
Advocating against Apple force-updating a phone that you haven't bought seems... silly in comparison? Especially as only with an up to date OS, you can be sort of safe against attackers, be it state level sponsored or regular ones.
As opposed to opening the phone, plugging the cable, doing whatever you want and shrink-wrapping again? (which is easy)
"Oh but it's wireless" It's through the wireless charging mechanism. That makes the whole difference
The iPhone is one of the most popular devices on the planet, and Apple is in a very high profile position because of it. The last time they tried doing anything remotely close to sneaky was the slowing down of phones with older batteries which eventually resulted in a class action lawsuit.
Sure Apple could install backdoor software, crapware or whatever else in an update, but their exposure to a class action lawsuit would be insane. Whatever they did would be found out pretty quick by security researchers and....you have class action on your hands that will probably cost the org $100M - $500M.
Apple isn't in the business of being nefarious, their in the business of selling you an iPhone. It's in their best interest to sell you the most secure and best phone possible, because all they want is to sell you an iPhone.
They’re not forcing anything on you.
No. Apple's best interest is to make money. Apple is a business; they care neither about you or me.
The iPhone is side-product, a cash-cow that can be milked over and over.