iPhone 2.0 adds secure wipe

posted Jun 25th 2008 4:20pm by Eliot
filed under: cellphones hacks, iphone hacks

AppleInsider is reporting that iPhone Software v2.0 will add a secure wipe feature. The screenshot above shows the text “This will take about an hour.” added to the normal erase feature. This time is used to overwrite data to the disk multiple times. The need for secure phone erasure came to light after a researcher was able to recover personal information from a refurbished iPhone using forensic tools. Since then, a few people have published techniques for obliterating personal data using either the GUI or the more thorough command line method. Remote wipe has also been added to the new firmware in case the phone is stolen. We’re happy to see security being made easily accessible to nontechnical users and expect that remote wipe will become standard on laptops in the future.

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tagged: apple, appleiphone, erase, forensics, iphone, random, securewipe, security

6 Responses to iPhone 2.0 adds secure wipe

miked says:

June 25, 2008 at 4:43 pm

at the request of many of you i will limit future postings. i will only post if i have something to add to the original post.

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Clay Atkins says:

June 25, 2008 at 5:00 pm

Wow Mike, It’s about time.

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blorg says:

June 25, 2008 at 5:18 pm

In case the phone is stolen? What, so the thief can wipe it before reselling it??

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Jim Manico says:

June 25, 2008 at 5:31 pm

No, its so that when you want to retire your iPhone and possible sell it over ebay, that all of your private data, like email credentials, are permanently wiped from the phone. This is a good thing.

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barry99705 says:

June 25, 2008 at 5:38 pm

remote wipe is in case you lose your phone you can call up att, or if it’s a corporate phone, your sys-admin can remote wipe it. Hopefully before someone gets the data off it.