[Cryptography] Is Apple correct?

Phillip Hallam-Baker phill at hallambaker.com
Fri Feb 19 18:49:32 EST 2016


On Fri, Feb 19, 2016 at 2:46 PM, Bernie Cosell <bernie at fantasyfarm.com> wrote:
> On 19 Feb 2016 at 5:53, CANNON NATHANIEL CIOTA wrote:
>
>> My question is, how can the FBI's demands be considered a backdoor
>> affecting anyone as if I understand correctly, would affect only the one
>> specific device?
>> If the firmware is programmed to only work on a phone with that specific
>> IMEI number signed by Apple, am I correct that the firmware could not be
>> modified to work on any other device since the signature would not
>> match?
>
> I don't think we can/do know that.  If it has an IMEI hard coded into it,
> what would prevent a hacker/government who obtained a copy of it from
> hard coding a different IMEI into it [or making it IMEI agnostic
> entirely].

The payload is signed so any change to the serial number info would
cause the payload to be rejected.


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