This gadget steals your Apple password (but that’s how you stay safe)

This gadget is targeting your Apple password and trying to steal your data. Fortunately, there is a way to keep your iPhone safe.

Steal apple password with a gadget

Visitors to Def Con (one of the world’s largest hacker conferences) looked a little strange. During the conference, they were asked on their iPhone to connect to an Apple TV. For that, they had to enter their Apple ID or password.

steal password gadget

Some visitors did, too, because the message had the appearance of a real Apple pop-up. However, it was not, because it turned out to be a research project. This project aimed to inform visitors about existing problems with Bluetooth on the iPhone. And show them that Bluetooth is still on, even if you just turned it off in Control Center.

That is how it works

The researcher walked the exhibition floor with his self-made gadget. It consisted of a Rapsberry Pi Zero 2 (a kind of small computer), two WiFi antennas, a bluethooth adapter and a battery. The device had a range of 50 feet and cost him about $70 to make.

bluetooth iPhone

He explains that he used Apple’s Bluetooth LE (Low Energy). This is a version of Bluetooth that consumes very little power. Apple uses this, for example, to keep the Apple Watch connected to the iPhone. Bluetooth LE remains active even if you have turned off Bluetooth in Control Center.

In the end, his gadget wasn’t programmed to do anything with the data the users entered. But he did say that a malicious user could easily steal an Apple password this way. He therefore advised to turn off Bluetooth completely via the Settings of your iPhone.

Turn off Bluetooth completely on your iPhone

  1. Open ‘Settings’;

  2. Choose ‘Bluetooth’;

  3. Turn off the slider behind ‘Bluetooth’.

He went on to say that this “problem” with Apple’s Bluetooth LE has been known since 2019. However, the researcher thinks that Apple will not do anything about this. He thinks it might be useful that Apple gives some kind of warning if you turn off Bluetooth via the Control Center. In addition, it is of course important not to just connect to devices or networks.

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