14 DAY TRIAL // “It’s not going to be impossible to jailbreak even if the exploit we used is gone,” a statement from Eric McDonald – a member of the iPhone Dev Team – goes, referring to the newly shipping iPhone 3GS units. The hacker crew is notorious for developing and distributing tools (including the Pwnage tool) to hack Apple devices including the iPhone and iPod touch.
Last week, an iClarified report had a tipster providing evidence of a new Bootrom inside new iPhone 3GS units shipping from Apple. The site reported that, “Apple is now shipping the iPhone 3GS with a new Bootrom that is not vulnerable to the 24kpwn exploit.” According to the piece, the iBoot-359.3.2 started shipping a week behind, with MuscleNerd of the iPhone Dev-Team confirming that, “The loss of the 24kpwn exploit would mean a normal jailbreak would be impossible for the time being.”
However, Eric McDonald, who is also a member of the infamous iPhone Dev Team, added that current tools still worked with the latest shipments of iPhone 3GS units. The only catch is that the “24kpwn” exploit used to jailbreak iPhones and iPod touch devices only makes it easier to boot up the hacked devices. The problem with new, “jailbreak-proof” iPhone 3GS units is that their new Bootrom interferes with 24kpwn, according to Wired’s Gadget Lab.
Basically, what Apple has done is make the handset difficult, or impossible to boot up, in the case its user attempts to jailbreak the device. According to the same report, booting will require being “tethered” to a computer. Reportedly, McDonald suggested to Wired that the current situation was almost identical with the time when second-generation iPod touches came out with a Bootrom. Although it took a while to find an exploit, the hackers were able at one point to enable untethered booting and, implicitly, a more risk-free jailbreak of the device.
Softpedia doesn't condone jailbreaking / unlocking the iPhone / iPod touch or any other device. This article has a purely informational purpose and doesn't, in any way, suggest that you should hack your Apple device. Using hacks may render your device unusable, or may reduce the quality of your experience employing the respective device. If you choose to download and install jailbreak tools, you will do so at your own risk. Unlocking / jailbreaking your iPhone / iPod touch may violate your warranty or the EULA with Apple and / or your cellular-service provider.