The security of our devices covers many fronts. A few days ago we saw how thanks to a combination of attacks it was possible to bypass the password request screen on Windows computers simply by plugging in a small connector . With this in mind, there is a tremendously powerful little setting on our iPhone or iPad that we will probably want to activate.
USB accessories, the key to many attacks
Just yesterday we were talking about how Hide UI , the new Grayshift tool, allows you to extract the code from a locked iPhone. How do you get it? Well, the process is relatively simple: after connecting the iPhone to the corresponding machine, it installs a malware that captures the password of the device once the user enters it.
GrayKey , as a tool, is probably the one that attracts the most attention, as it is designed to perform a brute force attack against the device password, but there are many other cases. Cases that, as Apple expresses when saying that “you can not create a back door only for the good ones”, come from entities that have nothing to do with the forces of law . Faced with these kinds of attacks, what can we do? Easy, disconnect the port until the password is entered.
Apple has offered us this option for some time now. We can activate it by following these steps:
- We open the Settingsapp on our iPhone or iPad.
- We enter Face ID and codeor Touch ID and code .
- We enter our code and click OK.
- We deactivate USB Accessoriesunder the section Allow access when blocked .
With this simple step we achieve that when the iPhone or iPad has been blocked for more than an hour, any USB accessory that is connected to it will not have access to the data interface necessary to communicate with the device.
IN APPLESFERA
Why Macs are resistant to Thunderspy, an attack via ThuderBolt that has affected all PCs since 2011
That easy. Without being able to communicate with the device, it is not possible to install, read, or modify any file on the device. Without a doubt, one of the many security measures that Apple adopts to protect the large amount of personal data that we store on our devices.
