By now, almost everyone has heard about GrayShift and its iPhone cracker called GrayKey. It's a small box that law enforcement can physically attach to an iPhone to unlock it. GrayKey is meant to be used exclusively by the authorities, and GrayShift takes precautions to be sure that it finds itself in good hands (one being the $ 30,000-60,000 price tag). However, as we pointed out in March, law enforcement tools do not always stay in good hands, as we saw with the IP-Box 2 there many years ago.
The mere fact that there is a physical way to unlock an iPhone worries Apple enough to want to take precautions. The malicious parties could just as easily use the same vulnerabilities exploited by GrayShift. The next update of iOS seeks to solve these problems with a feature called USB Restricted Mode.
According to the iOS developer 's documentation, the new security measure puts a week - long time limit on the Lightning port of the iPhone. If the device has not been unlocked with the password or if it has been connected to an associated computer for a week or more, the port can only be used to charge the phone. Data transfer from the phone via USB will not be possible without entering the password.
"To improve security, for a locked iOS device to communicate with USB accessories, you need to connect an accessory by Lightning connector to the device when it is unlocked - or enter the code from your connected device at least once a week. "
This means that anyone, including law enforcement, who is trying to unlock the phone through a physical connection like GrayKey, will have at least a week to do the work. This limitation may be sufficient to counter crack attempts on a six-digit access code. While GrayKey has been observed to break simple codes in as little as two hours, longer passwords may take three days or more to break.
According to Elcomsoft, the feature was first tested in the iOS 11.3 beta, but did not make the final cut. Version 11.4 is currently in beta, and the feature is present, but this does not guarantee that it is ready for full implementation. It can be rechecked if it causes unforeseen problems.
Restricted mode USB seems to provide a workaround for Apple against exploits in iOS that are not disclosed to it by GrayShift. This feature, as well as the expiration dates of the locked matching records introduced in iOS 11.3, show that Apple is aware of the solutions to physical crack threats and is working to resolve them.
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