John McAfee Lied About Being Able To Hack iPhone

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Hey, let's lie about being able to hack that iPhone so we can get a crapload of attention. Never mind that it will all be negative attention once everyone knows we were lying in the first place. :rolleyes:


McAfee, who founded of one of the first companies to offer antivirus software, claimed on CNN and Russia Today, as well as in a Business Insider column, that he could bypass the advanced encryption protecting the iPhone without Apple’s help. But he lied in those interviews, he told the Daily Dot, to “get a sh*tload of public attention.”
 
John McAfee is a scumbag with no credibility, if he told me he'd had a turkey sandwich for lunch I still wouldn't believe him.
 
But...but...the hookers and blow! The gun! He says what's on his mind, no filter! If you can't trust a guy like that, who can you trust? :(
 
Honestly, I think he's just out of touch with technology. Why would he purposely lie to gain publicity and later admit it? I'm willing to bet that McAfee genuinely though he could hack or hire someone to hack the iPhone using yesteryear's techniques. Obliviously, someone told him otherwise...
 
snicker... so the device id you set to any app on the phone requires acid and technobabble... or no tech babble... the UID is in the database of whatever apps were using by the user. you want the device id look up any cs supported apps you think might be on there and search by username which will give the UID at which point... you have a UID that is used to mask the username you already have... I never really understood why you had to sanitize the data but what ever. the password is stored on the device with a public key private key system. If the UID was all you needed then every rotten cs agent would print out a list of them and get free apps and or refunds for their nonexistant iphone...
 
Apparently few people above even bothered skimming the article - he didn't lie for himself or for money, he lied to bring public attention to the fact that potentially it can be done and the FBI is just trying to take people's privacy rights. To make laypeople believe in an alternative instead of just thinking the only way to do it was this court battle.
 
My best guess is he said it to put pressure on Apple to do it. If Apple wouldn't do it - he "would". Apple wouldn't want to be the one to say no and let someone else take glory for breaking Apple's encryption.
 
What he said would be doable if it was still 1985, which is probably the last time he personally had to worry about how a computer functions at a low level.
 
drakken said:
snicker... so the device id you set to any app on the phone requires acid and technobabble... or no tech babble... the UID is in the database of whatever apps were using by the user. you want the device id look up any cs supported apps you think might be on there and search by username which will give the UID at which point... you have a UID that is used to mask the username you already have... I never really understood why you had to sanitize the data but what ever. the password is stored on the device with a public key private key system. If the UID was all you needed then every rotten cs agent would print out a list of them and get free apps and or refunds for their nonexistant iphone...
Click to expand...

They're talking about the UID, not the UDID. The UDID is easily accessible on the phone. The UID is not.

The UDID is a 20-byte value used for device identification. It can be easily retrieved from a device and was used in the past by applications and advertising to track users. Its use has been curtailed by Apple.
The UID key is a 256-bit AES key that's contained in the cryptographic processor on the device, and can't just be retrieved at will. Retrieving would require an expert-level attack on the A6 chip itself, as mentioned with acid and lasers.

If anyone in this process could retrieve the UID key, then this issue would have never made the news. :)

These two links demonstrate some of the nature of the problem:
Why can't apple simply add the backdoor now and then remove it after the FBI is done?
Why does the FBI ask Apple for help to decrypt an iPhone?
 
It doesn't really matter what McAffee's motivations were for lying or whether or not he could actually pull it off. Anyone who know's McAffee's past knows he is certifiably batshit crazy and anything he says or does is subject to scrutiny.
 
OregonLAN said:
Honestly, I think he's just out of touch with technology. Why would he purposely lie to gain publicity and later admit it?
Click to expand...

He's crazy.

smau-milano-2015-rudy-bandiera-23-638.jpg
 
He's the James Yeager of the computing industry. Which I guess makes him the herpes of the computing industry. He has no relevance beyond not wanting to go away.
 
Crazy guy acts Crazy shocking.

Honestly though do any of us believe him when he says he was lying ?

I believe he didn't believe he was lying at the time of the lie. However perhaps some of his pills have kicked in and he simply remembers the delusion as a lie, as his delusions often lie to him.
 
He got rich with his ransom ware antivirus software that was usually bundled with new PC/laptops.
I say ransom ware because for the computer novice it was just like that; constant pop ups, banners and scare tactics until the purchased a upgrade.
In other words he was ripping off old people.
 
I hate to say "I told you so..." when this happened but but but... :D
 
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