Apple iBoot leak shouldn't scare you (too much)

Everyone, take a deep breath. It's going to be OK.

Yes, a piece of Apple's iOS source code was posted to GitHub this week, but it turns out that when it comes to the security of your iPhone the iBoot leak might just be much ado about nothing.

SEE ALSO:Apple is none too pleased with seeing leaked iPhone source code on GitHub

This, of course, is Apple's official line — but it turns out that the three-quarters of a trillion-dollar company may be doing more than covering its own ass. It might just be, surprise, telling the truth.

Maybe.

"Old source code from three years ago appears to have been leaked, but by design the security of our products doesn’t depend on the secrecy of our source code," the company insisted in a statement to Mashable.

And that's more or less the thinking of security researcher Patrick Wardle, who you may remember from his work exposing the super creepy Fruitfly malware. When asked about the possible impact of this leak on iOS security, he explained why we can all probably rest easy.

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"Having access to source code shouldn't make a system less secure (e.g. Linux is open source and very secure)," he noted over Twitter direct message. "[Real] hackers don't need access to source code — they can reverse a binary and find bugs."

Now, this doesn't mean that there won't be anysecurity effects of the leak, just likely not ones that will shake your personal iPhone to its core.

YOU GOOD?Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images

"[This] does make it way easier for pretty much anybody to look for bugs now," observed Wardle, "and since iOS bugs are so valuable — it may be unlikely that if somebody finds a bug they will report it to [Apple], vs sell it for wayyy more $$$."

Of course, some skepticism of Apple's everything is fineclaim is definitely warranted. As security researcher and founder of The Phobos Group Dan Tentler pointed out over email, "ask yourself this: would [Apple] release a press statement saying the sky is falling and that this [iBoot] leak will allow people to break into [iPhones] easier?"

Point taken. And we can assume there will be some ramifications, but explosive ones? Hard to say.

"Apple saying it's old, yah that's true," noted Wardle, "but a lot of that code is likely still used in iOS 11. So if you find a bug in the leaked [source] code, it may still be applicable today."

In the end, while the leak of the iBoot source code obviously isn't a good look for Apple, according to Wardle it doesn't presage a security apocalypse for the average iPhone owner. He assured us that the "sky isn't falling" and that access to source code does not automatically equal exploits.

So, like we said, you can take a deep breath. And, once you've done that (and updated your phone to the latest operating system), go back to worrying about Spectre and Meltdown.

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