What a scary story that a security researcher experienced on a train ride last month. As described in Ars Technica, Jeroen van der Ham was traveling in the Netherlands and Your iPhone has pop-ups causing you to be unable to use it. He says they emerged a few minutes later and started again. I wanted to block it but I couldn’t. Other passengers had the same problem and the same problem occurred on the way back.. He pointed out a possible suspect who was present on both trips, even though nothing happened.

The source of the problem is a small device, it affects iPhone with iOS 17

How did you spot the suspect? Van der Ham said the suspect was using a Flipper Zero device with some type of custom firmware. It works by sending a combination of Bluetooth alerts that are nearly non-existent because they are low energy, but the damage they cause is impressive.

They classify it as the Swiss Army Knife of antennas, it has a 1.4 inch screen and looks like a child’s toy when you look at it with the naked eye. Communicates with sub-1 GHz devices like old garage doors, NFC cards, infrared and Bluetooth.

Flipper Zero can damage iPhone

TechCruch had recently warned against these attacks through pop-ups. They also affect iPads, but the most impressive thing is that there is a custom iOS 17 unlocker already configured on the device. There are no problems on devices running iOS 16 and its variants.

Are iPhones the only ones vulnerable?

It may seem like an issue with a single device or ecosystem, but it’s not. Android and Windows laptops will also be affected in a certain way. The only way to protect yourself is to disable Bluetooth directly and disabling Nearby Share in the case of Android.

Disabling Bluetooth is something that isn’t “normal” because in these times when accessories like the Apple Watch or AirPods are indispensable, it’s totally annoying but something that needs to be checked somehow.

Another bug was discovered in iOS 17

Flipper Zero is a portable multi-tool for enthusiasts, according to its manufacturer. Its main function is to hack radio protocols, create access control systems. however, if used incorrectly, it clones cards and can control devices such as TV remotes. Since it’s open source, users can update Flipper Zero with firmware to have different capabilities, just like the iPhone thief.

It has 2 ARM Cortex M4 and M0+ processors which are used to process applications or radio. The manufacturer took inspiration from the “pwnagotchi” for its design, but it has a sturdy case, practical buttons and even a micro SD card slot. We will wait for Apple to repeat this situation and release a small security update. To protect against such attacks.