Iphone question

bladtinzu's Avatar
I quit using Apple years ago but had someone tell me he can pay a "hacker" $400 and get remote access to any iphone as long as said "hacker" has the phone number associated with the iphone in question. I do not believe this is possible but I am no tech guy by any means. And didn't the FBI fork over big bucks to get into that one phone a few years back?
There are many different "hacks". Breaking an encrypted password is much different than embedding a trojan key stroker that records all key strokes and allows you to retrieve it or cloning a phone so you receive calls and texts of a phone number or gaining access to a phones mic and camera so you can see and hear every thing remotely. All these hacks are possible to some degree with or with out physical access to the phone. . But I would be weary IOS is very difficult to hack but not impossible. Oh yeah this is all illegal if its not your phone and your not doing it for entertainment purposes and then it may still be illegal.
ck1942's Avatar
Obviously we are talking here about smartphones, not analogs.

A would be hacker must first have the number on the hardware to start "prospecting."

Android or iphone or doesn't matter.

Usual routine would be to send a text to entice unwitting cooperation. Or a photo. Or a link. etc. Malware can be embedded in the message. And if the victim's phone number is also a mail box obviously the email can contain malware, too.

Opening your email on an iphone or android phone or tablet can also compromise that hardware.

If the intended victim opens any of the above, there is some malware, not all, that can automatically start embedding.

Otherwise, the victim must open the message link to start the process.

Apple claims its operating systems are malware proof, but plenty of well regarded anti-malware software providers out there. Ditto for Android os phones.

imo, any device that uses software operating systems can be targeted. Indeed, the most recent malware discoveries have been of internal device firmware and chip vulnerabilities.
Repairman-Jack's Avatar
It was reported that the fbi paid a one time fee of $900,000 to a hacker group to gain access after Apple refused to code a backdoor for them. Supposedly the exploit the hacker group used to gain access only worked on the 5c version of the phone running ios 9
This just came out yesterday, Cellebrite claims to have hacked any iOS device running iOS 5 to iOS 11 as well as many Google Android devices.

https://siliconangle.com/blog/2018/0...e-hack-ios-11/