[CutePuppy]

From Unpatched stealthy iOS MDM hack spells ruin for Apple tech enterprises - Reg, by Darren Pauli, 2016 March 31 :

Clicking 'OK' to ordinary and expected phishing prompt enough for complete iPhone compromise.

Enterprises the world over are at risk from a seamless new attack that allows the latest Apple devices to be quietly compromised in what researchers say requires a total overhaul of Cupertino's enterprise provisioning architecture for mobile device management.

The unpatched hack – dubbed SideStepper and crafted by Israel-based Check Point hackers Ohad Bobrov and Avi Bashan – begins with a near-perfect phishing attack targeted at staff, and ends with complete compromise of fully updated iOS devices running version 9.2.

It takes advantage of Apple's newly streamlined enterprise provisioning architecture, which allows tech shops to install non-App Store applications on staff handsets.

Mobile device management of Apple devices is a system used by almost all Fortune 100 companies and scores more enterprises. Almost all are at risk of the attack, the pair told The Register.

Apple's upgrade means attackers need only send an SMS – to trick staff into accepting a legitimate-looking request to install a configuration file – for attackers to have remote man-in-the-middle access. From there, attackers can install applications that will quietly eviscerate Apple devices. ..... < snip >

..... Apple has been contacted for comment. However, the pair say they informed the tech giant of their research, and Apple labeled it "a feature, not a bug."

The pair say the attack is cleaner and more deadly than any that have come before, and is explicitly thanks to Apple borking its enterprise provisioning service. ..... < snip >

..... "Apple tried to solve the problem but actually made it worse, because now it is even easier to infect a mobile device." ..... < snip >

..... Bobrov and Bashan are already working on further iOS vulnerability and exploitation research. They also have Android in their sights. ..... < snip >

"And now for something completely different..."

From US asked Google to unlock phones 9 times since 2012 - CNBC, by Arjun Kharpal, 2016 March 31 :

Fresh off the back of the tussles between U.S. law enforcement and Apple, new research has revealed that search giant Google has been asked several times since 2012 to help unlock Android phones.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) found 63 cases where the government had used the 1789 All Writs Act to ask Apple and Google help unlock data on phones.

While the majority of these cases across the U.S. involved Apple, there were nine instances where Google was asked by law authorities for help. ..... < snip >

..... law enforcement has been asking tech companies for help for eight years. It appears the firms have been willing to help law enforcement too. Prosecutors have said that Apple has helped unlock phones 70 times since 2008. The uncovering of the 63 cases however is the first major look at government requests to Google, which owns the Android operating system installed on the majority of the world's smartphones. ..... < snip >

..... While Apple has been known to comply with such requests in the past, the latest battle with the government was a step too far for the technology giant. ..... < snip >

..... Most of the orders related to drug cases in which officers were trying to access devices of people who were in possession of drugs. Warrants requesting help from Google were filed in Oregon, California, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Alabama and North Carolina.

Sometimes "quiet is good," but I guess this time it was not a "bug" [up their @ss], it was a "feature" — it was about terrorism, not drug-related?

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Apple has really dropped the ball in the software department.

It’s been one disaster after another. ‘It just works’ should be replaced by it just Bricks’.

I just upgraded my 5S to 9.3.1 skipping 9.3.0. It immediately prompted me for my Apple Password. I use a password manager because it is complex. Could I get to my password manager? No. Did I know, or was I advised I of a new requirement of needing a password right off the bat? No. Fortunately .1 lets you defer the password, I guess .0 doesn’t. On top of that my Win10 iTunes had to be re-installed and the USB driver didn’t install properly.

This is exactly the kind of stuff that gets Apple in trouble.

Software is all about attention to the smallest details, and Apple is blowing it in the details department.

[Swordmaker]

The unmatched hack – dubbed SideStepper and crafted by Israel-based Check Point hackers Ohad Bobrov and Avi Bashan – begins with a near-perfect phishing attack targeted at staff, and ends with complete compromise of fully updated iOS devices running version 9.2.

I see what you did there. . . you clipped the cited article before the money quote in the article:

"We found a way to do a man-in-the-middle attack on an iOS mobile device and replace an original command such as 'query device' with one to install a malicious enterprise certificate application," Bobrov says.

That means for this to work, they'd have to have stolen the involved company's Enterprise Certificate. There is why it won't work. Good try.

As for the rest of your post, Apple's Law Enforcement Guideline page available on its website outlines exactly what it can and cannot do for such devices. It states that it has never "unlocked" iOS devices, but has been able to retrieve un-encrypted data for law enforcement pursuant to legal search warrants on devices prior to devices which were fully encrypted to which Apple does not have the keys. The ACLU article included a survey of devices back to 2008 which included devices that did not have any encryption at all and were only protected by the passcode with no lock-out.