Rumour: Apples secret kill switch in iPhone


It looks like Apple is keeping a closer hold on the iPhones apron strings than anyone thought, if information uncovered by Jonathan Zdziarski is to be believed. Speaking on iPhone Atlas on Wednesday, Zdziarski author of a book on iPhone application development explained that he was performing forensic examination of an iPhone 3G when he discovered a suspicious configuration file in the CoreLocation section of the memory. Upon investigating, he discovered a link to a page on Apples website which appears to contain the skeleton for a future application blacklist. The page, called unauthorizedApps, seems to exist so the iPhone can occasionally download a copy and check the signatures of banned applications against installed applications if a match is found, the app is disabled immediately. Zdziarski believes that this functionality exists to disable applications that the user has already downloaded and paid for, if Apple so chooses to shut them down.

Clearly, there are legitimate reasons why such functionality should exist although slightly fewer for why its undocumented and downright concealed including the possibility that Apple can update iPhones with a sort of anti-malware by listing known bricking programs in the blacklist. However, it demonstrates that even a jailbroken iPhone might not escape Apples cl**tches for long and how sure can you be that Installer.App or your favourite non-Apple approved software wont hit the blacklist once its activated? Anyone here worried about the possibilities of a hidden remote app killer developed by Apple, or does the Cupertino company just have your best interests at heart?