Cybersecurity expert alias Anthony has discovered a new way to attack iPhone using the Flipper Zero hacking tool, which can spoof various Apple Bluetooth devices such as AirTag, Apple TV, and AirPods and send intrusive pop-ups to the smartphone. In this respect informs TechCrunch portal.
Anthony named the new attack method Bluetooth Ad Attack (in Russian – Bluetooth attack via advertising messages) and posted the results of the study on his blog. According to the curious, the attack not only interferes with the normal use of the iPhone, but can also disturb the peace of mind of users who receive an endless stream of annoying pop-up notifications that cannot be hidden.
The attack was made possible by Anthony changing the Flipper Zero’s firmware to broadcast special signals that Apple devices use to detect each other.
TechCrunch journalists have confirmed that the hack is working on the iPhone 8 and iPhone 14 Pro. They downloaded the code Anthony provided on the Flipper Zero and enabled Bluetooth. After that, they started getting pop-up notifications on their smartphones asking them to connect to non-existent AirPods. The hack worked even if Bluetooth was turned off in “Control Center”, but it didn’t work when Bluetooth was turned off completely in settings.
Anthony stated that with a reinforced board, the attack could spread to greater distances, but did not reveal the details of this method for fear of being abused by hackers.
Apple has not yet made a statement on the situation.
Formerly Chinese civil servants prohibited Bring your iPhone to work.