Apple Files Patent to Stop Jailbreaking

It may not be a good news for you if you have jailbroken your device!!!
Apple has filed a patent to cover different methods to identify and disable unauthorized uses; including jailbreaking and other types of hacking of the Apple devices, like iPhone and iPad products.

Although the the new additions in the Federal Copyright Act has legalized the jailbreaking (i.e. running the programs not approved by Apple, and using the carriers that are not supported by Apple) of iPhones and other electronic devices, it seems that Apple is well-determined to win further control over their devices.

Presently, the Cupertino, California-based tech firm has declared that it automatically revokes the warranty on all the iPhones that are subjected to jailbreaking and other hacking.

The patent, filed in February & published just last week, will essentially find out the measures to identify stolen devices and make sure the security of sensitive information, like credit card numbers & passwords which are stored in the device. For an example the technology can stop malicious activities like sending the stored data to a remote server and then can erase completely from the phone.

However, the patent also claims for some innovative methods to identify devices that are hacked, jailbroken, unlocked or got the SIM cards removed. The technology can detect such activities in different ways; such as monitoring a sudden increase in the memory usage. These “indicate that a hacking program is being run and that an unauthorized user may be using the electronic device,” the patent claims.

Theoretically, Apple then can delete all the personal data from these devices and suggest the phone’s carrier to “shutdown any telephone service to the electronic device, shutdown the electronic device itself, or otherwise suitably extract the functions of the electronic device,” the patent claims.

The iPhone application developers assume that the technology described in the patent will allow Apple to actually kill jailbroken devices under the cover of data security, as it may not be able to detect whether a device is stolen or willingly jailbroken by the users.