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iPhone malware

Last calendar week, we covered Apple tree'southward Mistake 53 message, and how it bricks iPhones, sometimes more than a year after the devices were repaired. At the time, it looked as though a majority of the failures were acquired by these third-party repairs, though in that location were signs that non all of them were.

The folks at iFixit have published an in-depth written report on the problem that sheds additional light on what's causing the upshot and what, if anything, consumers can practice nearly it. The problem isn't directly caused past third-party repairs as such, only by replacing the home button or the associated cablevision.

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The Touch on ID sensor. Image by iFixit

The problem is linked to the Bear on ID system. Apple tree states:

If your iOS device has Touch ID, iOS checks that the Touch ID sensor matches your device'southward other components during an update or restore. This bank check keeps your device and the iOS features related to Touch on ID secure.

When iOS finds an unidentified or unexpected Affect ID module, the check fails. For example, an unauthorized or faulty screen replacement could cause the check to fail.

There are even so a number of things we don't know about Fault 53. Apple defends this as a security measure, merely the company has yet to nowadays an explanation for why a previously undisclosed security measure tin permanently brick devices. There are certainly alternatives for svelte fallback — the phone could refuse to enable fingerprint sensors or Apple Pay, for case.

The security mensurate argument truly doesn't hold water if you consider the circumstances of the failures. Many business laptops implement a Trusted Platform Module to secure local information. If you have the hard drive out of a TPM-enabled laptop and plug it into a different system, it won't kicking and you won't be able to read information off the drive. The security measures that safeguard the laptop kick in immediately, not the next time y'all connect to the Internet or attempt to log into Windows.

Apple claims that Fault 53 is designed to secure its systems, nonetheless many users have encountered this trouble months after they had their devices repaired by third parties. Any genuine security machinery would kicking in the first fourth dimension they rebooted the device, non the first time they upgraded to iOS 9.

iFixit also reports that Error 53 can occur even if you bandy parts from a make-new iPhone into another iPhone. The event, in other words, isn't that the end-user has used unauthorized hardware, but that Apple has designed its own pairing mechanism designed to defeat 3rd-political party installations.

Tin can annihilation exist done to set Error 53?

Not much. Some devices take been known to fail and brandish an Fault 53 even if the end-user hasn't taken them to a third party. In these cases, you're stuck paying whatsoever Apple wants to fix the device or simply ownership another phone.

If you get your phone repaired by a third party, you'll demand to tell them to use the original home button, cable, and Bear on ID sensor. Some Apple stores might help with a replacement if the device is within warranty, but past that, there's zippo to be done. iFixit has yet to decide a solution and Apple isn't talking about the problem.