Re: Not exactly secure is it
So a locked iPhone will still accept and install an offered firmware update no questions asked?
That's the whole point of signed firmware. The signature confirms that the firmware comes from Apple and is therefore (by definition) legitimate.
Of course if Apple ever leaked that signing key then any old dev can do a 'legitimate' firmware update. That's why looking after keys carefully is important. Ask RSA...
This basic mechanism is used all over: Windows updates, probably some of the Androids, OS X updates, Linux updates. The key holder can always do anything they like.
What Apple seem to be afraid of is their customers as a whole learning that.
I can see that being a concern in a country as madly paranoid as the USA. But pretty much everywhere else in the world citizens would be condemning a company refusing to assist a murder investigation. If Apple tried to be that publicly obstructive here in the UK they'd get into serious trouble.
The big problem for Apple is that whilst they may be able to hold out in the US, they'd have no such luck anywhere else. Their biggest mistake has been to stir up publicity about it, because they are going to be swamped with similar court orders all over the world. Tim Cook is guilty of thinking only about the American market. He's forgotten that Apple are a global company.
What they should have done is quietly assist the FBI, just like any other good citizen would, and hope it never gets out.
Regarding the security enclave on later devices, I don't think that would make any difference. Unless Apple has committed the code it runs to a mask ROM, it too will have updateable firmware. I doubt they'd be using a ROM - it's kinda risky because it is impossible to fix any bugs that emerge afterwards.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
