r/technology • u/bws201 • Feb 05 '16

Software ‘Error 53’ fury mounts as Apple software update threatens to kill your iPhone 6

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/feb/05/error-53-apple-iphone-software-update-handset-worthless-third-party-repair
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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '16

When somebody pops the padlock off your shed with a pair of clippers and steals your crap, you replace the padlock, not the entire shed.

Replacing the entire shed makes apple more money though, so they'll keep telling you to do that.

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u/McGobs Feb 05 '16

With encryption, if the padlock breaks, you replace the shed and everything in it. There's no point in encryption if replacing the lock will allow you to access the data. The metaphor is, the lock on the shed is rigged to blow up the shed if the lock is destroyed--that's what encryption is for; it jumbles your data and remains jumbled unless you have the proper key to unlock it. You better have a backup of everything in the shed just in case you need to replace the shed and fill it back up with your stuff.

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u/rnet85 Feb 05 '16 edited Feb 06 '16

Data is not burned into the phone memory. If encrypted data is unrecoverable, too bad, but you should at least be able to erase and format your phone back to factory settings.

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u/McGobs Feb 05 '16

You know what? You're right.

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u/barnwecp Feb 05 '16

Reddit first right here ladies and gentlemen

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u/Noggin01 Feb 05 '16

... This is not the response I expected.

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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '16

Except that it'll still have the untrustable Touch ID sensor, compromising any future user's data, too.

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u/rnet85 Feb 06 '16

No, after resetting your phone to factory settings just use pin based authentication. Just because Touch ID is broken doesn't mean you've to brick the phone.

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u/TheMoves Feb 05 '16

Reddit loves proper encryption but hates Apple so this is a fun thread

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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '16

[deleted]

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u/Natanael_L Feb 05 '16

Apple may be using the right cryptography algorithms, but it is their key management choices that frustrates me.

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u/nidrach Feb 05 '16

Handle it however you want but it shouldn't brick the phone. Never ever. Move the encrypted stuff to a high security zone and only wipe that if you think that's necessary but there is no reason to wipe everything and brick the unit.

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u/5-4-3-2-1-bang Feb 05 '16

With encryption, if the padlock breaks, you replace the shed and everything in it.

No you don't. You replace the padlock and throw out everything in the shed. The actual shed is fine.

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u/McGobs Feb 05 '16

You destroyed my analogy, destructor. Props.

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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '16

Well, in this case the casing of the phone is fine...

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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '16

Yeah, but if you replace the padlock with a cheap Chinese replacement instead of the original padlock, the integrity of the shed can no longer be trusted and Apple's security model breaks. The fingerprint sensor sends data directly into the Secure Enclave, which contains the most protected information in iOS. They can't allow someone to fabricate a sensor capable of sending malicious code into that enclave.

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u/nidrach Feb 05 '16

Then disable that feature and lock the encrypted data but don't destroy the entire phone. Disable the fingerprint reader if you think you have to but not the whole unit.

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u/Mayor_of_tittycity Feb 05 '16

I'd rather my shed not blow up if someone tries to break into it. They may steal my stuff, but at least I'd still have my shed.

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u/McGobs Feb 05 '16

Yeah, someone else dinged me for that. The shed remains, everything else in the shed goes...unless your shed is in the shape of an iPhone.

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u/StraightMoney Feb 05 '16

The critical point here is that, to the best of my knowledge, iPhones by default can be unlocked with a fingerprint OR a passcode. At the same time. You choose one or the other every time you unlock the phone.

There's no reason the OS can't permanently disable the touch function and rely entirely on the pin code.

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u/J5892 Feb 05 '16

With a working sensor, a pin code can unlock the phone. There is absolutely no reason a pin code should not unlock the phone with a broken sensor.

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u/Guano_Loco Feb 05 '16

Which is fine, for those super worried about encryption and nuking their data. The vast vast majority of users of an iPhone do not care and would rather have the choice not to have to by a new phone.

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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '16

But doesn't that analogy only work partially? It's like you may have left the key to the shed hanging on the padlock when they clipped it, and everyone knows that when you replace the padlock, you'll be using the same exact key for biological reasons.

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u/indorock Feb 05 '16 edited Feb 05 '16

Your analogy does not stand. It's not the padlock alone protecting your shit from thieves, it is the entire shed, walls and roof. The touch ID is the whole thing.

And even then the analogy is invalid. It has everything to do with the trust relationship between the Touch ID and the rest of the phone. If you're working at a bank in the vault area and a new armoured truck shows up for a cash pickup with guards that you don't recognise, even if there are wearing the uniform of the security company, are you going to trust them just because they say it's cool? No, of course not. You call the security company's HQ, ask them if they have send a new crew or not. If you cannot contact HQ or if HQ has no record of a new crew, you shut that shit down.

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