iOS4.1 Jailbroken for life on all iDevices

The Chronic-Dev team released Greenposi0n to the world on October 12 with support initially only for iOS 4th gen devices (iPhone 4, iPod Touch 4G, iPad) but now (as of posting) you can jailbreak the iPod Touch 3G/2G (both MC and non-MC models) with the same tool - something Limera1n will not do.  I just performed the JB on my own iPod Touch 2G (non-MC model) and it ran just fine.  I do recommend you download the software directly from http://www.greenpois0n.com and not any other site or mirror.  I tried downloading it through a RedmondPie.com mirror but it did not work for me at all.  Anyway, I'm back to being Jailbroken and boy does it feel great!


Note: Limera1n supports all 4th Generation iDevices, as well as the iPod Touch 3G and iPad 3.2.2+.  I can confirm that this works on the 3GS without problem and the so-called lag is not noticeable to the untrained eye.  There are no announced plans to support earlier iDevices as of this posting.


Here's the Greenpois0n step by step for you guys, screenshots provided by redmondpie.com, enjoy!


Be ready to move quickly, some of these steps will pass you by if you aren't ready for them.  It is okay if you mess up a few times, forcing a hard reboot will allow you to start the process over again (to do this simply press and hold both the sleep button and home button until the device shuts off completely, then press the sleep button to power on, and restart the process).  This works, and does not delete your stuff, I am living proof.


Step 1:  Download Greenpois0n from here: http://www.greenpois0n.com
Step 2:  Connect your iDevice to your computer via USB, power it off (shut down) and click on "Prepare to Jailbreak (DFU)"

Step 3:  Following the on-screen instrcutions:

• Press and hold the sleep button for 2 seconds

• Continue holding sleep; press and hold home for 10 seconds.

• Release sleep button; continue holding home for 15 seconds.

• Step 4: Your device is now ready for jailbreak. WHILE HOLDING ONTO THE HOME BUTTON Click on “Jailbreak” to inject the exploit.  IMPORTANT: DO NOT LET GO OF THE HOME BUTTON AT THIS POINT

• Step 5:  Your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch should now be successfully jailbroken on iOS 4.1 !  
  • DO NOT LET GO OF THE HOME BUTTON YET doing so will cause the process to fail and you will need to hard reset and start over

• Once you see the above screen, with the "Quit" button and "Jailbreak Complete!" shown, you can let go of the home button

• Step 6: Once your device reboots, make sure you are connected to the Internet and start “Loader” found on the homescreen (look on your last screen if you have multiple screens) and install Cydia (only thing in there).  Note: "Loader" may appear to be whited out on your home screen, this is okay, continue as noted here to install Cydia.

Once Cydia is installed it will ask you if you want to remove loader, select continue and after restart go into Cydia.  Make sure you select "Complete Update" when prompted in Cydia so everything works right.

This is it! You are done!

You will see what looks like a bunch of lines of code flash on your screen, pause for a few moments, and then your device will come up to your lock screen.  This happens immediately following the jailbreak process and is normal.

Once you get Cydia installed, after the initial "Complete Update," there will be a lot of updates it requires, make sure you keep going back into the "Changes" section of Cydia so you get all the updates.


For you Rock users, Cydia and Rock are now one.  Everything is done through Cydia.  According to their own FAQ's, you simply need to download/purchase something from the Cydia store, create a Cydia account and your Rock licenses should transfer.  Don't hold me to that, I have yet to see it work right on  any device.  The backup feature from Rock is not integrated with Cydia...yet...they say it is in the works.



Unlock for iOS 4.1 (Old Baseband) There is currently no way to unlock your iPhone on the latest 05.14.02 / 2.10.04 basebands. If you have managed to preserve your baseband while upgrading to iOS 4.1 using TinyUmbrella, you can use the existing version of Ultrasn0w to unlock your iPhone on iOS 4.1. Step by step instructions for unlocking can be found here.


Feel free to post questions here and I will respond in kind.


Enjoy!




-Geek

UPDATE 08-NOV-2010: I have been using this JB on my iPod Touch 2G since its release and it functions, however, because of the inferior hardware of my second generation device, I am limited as to which programs & themes will run correctly, if at all.  As such, when jailbreaking an older device (earlier than 3G, except for iPad) be wary of what you install in regards to themes and newer apps.  The 1G & 2G devices simply do not have enough power, which is why multi tasking is disabled on them by default from Apple with iOS4.  If you can, keep your 1G & 2G devices running iOS <4.0.1 and use http://jailbreakme.com to jailbreak the device, it will run much better. - Geek

http://greenpois0n.com

UPDATE 06-JULY-2011: @Comex just released Jailbreakme. 3.0 for all iOS devices <4.3.3...go to http://jailbreakme.com now to JB your iOS device for life!

Automated Systems: Will Human Interaction go the way of the Dodo?

Recently, a classmate of mine posed the following statement;
"Do you see automated systems advancing in the near future to save developers more money? I understand that most times there needs to be human to human contact, but there has to be some way to take this to the next level. Software applications are replacing ATM's for crying out loud! I see this as another threat to humans' jobs though. I guess you just have to work in the right field." ~Jermaine Edwards


Here's some of my thoughts on the subject - what do you think?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eventually intuitive systems will replace most human to human interaction in the short term, making developers wallets fatter and our lives simpler. Programs will continue to get more complex as the demands of users change and technology advances.  The drawback is reduction in jobs, as was experienced during the first industrial revolution when mass production changed the way everything was done, and who was no longer needed on the manufacturing floor.  As you mentioned, ATM's are being replaced with iPhone apps.  Eventually, I think bank branches will be replaced by full-service, online, interactive banking.  We have robots that build our vehicles - one robot can do the work of 100 men in far less time; robots that perpetually clean our floors and recharge themselves when necessary; planes that can fly themselves around the world without pilot interference, etc..  I think beyond our lifetimes is when true artificial intelligence will be born, like we see in movies today.  Only then do I think will human interaction become obsolete because it will not longer be necessary - an intelligent machine in our life will perform many, if not all, of the functions we perform today, leaving little left for the human to do except system maintenance and maintain physical relationships as desired.  That may be an extreme example, but one that I think has a real chance of eventually becoming reality with the way technology is advancing.  It is a trickle down effect - a new advancement causes a common product to become obsolete which leaves manufacturers without a product to make, distributors without a product to sell, and service providers without a means to an end.  The consumer enjoys the benefit of a great product delivered quicker than ever, but the supply chain dwindles to a computer server and a delivery truck.  This is a profitable arrangement for the manufacturers but leaves everyone that was in the middle stuck to reinvent themselves or close their doors.

There is also another side to this - the green effect, meaning that the reduction in effect on the environment and the effect that has on job availability. As technology advances, so too do the materials they are manufactured from.  Most machines and consumables can be recycled today, or are biodegradable and non-toxic.  Also, the increase in use of Internet based storage and collaboration has significantly reduced the amount of paper output, as well as reduced the quantity of laser toner/ink cartridges used, which further reduces the environmental impact.  This affects the job market as well, automation has a long history of leaving people/industries jobless, such as when mass production was introduced in the early 20th Century and a lot of factory workers were replaced with machines.  As technology advances we invent or refine machines to help us in our endeavors, initially as tools to enhance an experience or quicken a solution.  Now, machines are seen as a necessity of life - for many to keep up with an ever evolving world, for others just to keep track of their daily lives.  Whatever it is used for, humans are more dependant on machines and technology now than we every have been.  Unfortunately, I think a dose of laziness is driving a lot of today's innovations, leaving consumers to sit on their couches, at their desks, or in their cars doing whatever they want, whenever they want. 

As far as working in the right field, IT seems to be a big fit now and in the future.  We must be mindful not to loose control though, what if god forbid every electronic system on the planet went dead and we all had to go back to doing it manually.  Since business has married to technology for a while now, how many companies, and individuals for that matter, do you think could really survive in an old-fashioned world?  My guess, a lot less than any of us think.


Tell me what you think, post a comment below.


-Geek

Back to Spam

Most companies make use of some type of Spam and Virus Protection which does a remarkable job of neutralizing unsolicited and detrimental messages, so how is it that spam still exists and thrives to wreak havoc? Below are some of the five most common pitfalls that allow spam to continue, and what you can do about it:

Zombie Workstations
Either via an inbound spam message that was missed, a website exploiting a bug in a browser, or an infected file being transported onto your network by a user, workstations are very prone to being infected with malicious code in the form of a virus, malware, trojan, or the like. The source can be complicated to cure, but there's a very simple fix to save the rest of us from those machines sending us spam, and getting your public IP Blacklisted to boot.

Simply configure an outbound firewall rule to only allow outbound connections on port 25 from your in-house mail server. If you don't have a mail server, then your network shouldn't need to make outbound connections on port 25 (or inbound ones for that matter). You may need to reconfigure some Email clients who are using port 25 to connect to their SMTP server, but most servers these days have the ability to leave port 587 open for this type of connection.

By shutting down your local network from creating outbound 25 traffic, you are removing the ability for your workstations to generate a message and deliver it without going through your gateway which you as a good sys-admin monitor and control.

Servers Acting as Open Relays
The next largest source of unintentional spam are misconfigured servers or servers with accounts that have weak passwords. By not having authentication configured correctly you can allow connections from the outside to use your server to send mail. Spammers will just troll IP addresses looking for Open Relays and exploit any hole that is left open for them to use your server to send their spam. Additionally they can find the home server for an email account and attempt to authenticate as that user with a "brute force" password attack. However brute is not a fitting adjective when you let your users set up their account with their password set to "password" or "1234" or the like.

At the very least, we recommend having a good firewall in front of your mail server to look for these types of attacks. Ideally you would have either an Edge MTA which acts as a perimeter for your main mail server or employ a cloud based solution so that you can block incoming traffic against your mail server from anybody but that trusted source which has very high levels of security in place.

Clever Trickery
Spammers are tricky devils and they learn and adapt to email defense systems to break those systems or to circumvent them. One example that demonstrates the type of adaptability that Email Security professionals have to deal with is Backscatter spam. As an operator of a legitimate email server, one of the things your server does to be helpful to other servers is generate email containg error messages when messages encounter problems. For example if somebody sends you an email to an address that doesn't exist, it is helpful for your server to send the original sender a notification Non-Delivery Report (NDR) to let them know that their message wasn't delivered.
Spammers can make use of this feature in the following way: They create a message and forge the From: field to contain the email address of their intended target. Then they send this message to an email address they know doesn't exist on your server in your domain. Your server kindly sends back a notification to the person it thought sent the message. In fact you just delivered the message for the spammer from your server and IP address which they most likely trust. This type of spam is difficult to detect and block because it is technically an illegitimate notification. 
The solution to eradicate this type of spam is to perform the test to see if the user exists during the SMTP conversation. By doing that, your server is never actually accepting the message from the sender and therefore need not generate a notification message. The sending server with a legitimate message for a non-existent address is then responsible for notifying it's own user of the failure.

Malware, Trojans & Viruses
These three words strike fear into all system administrators. You know that if your workstations become infected with malware, a trojan or a virus you have hours of work ahead of you identifying and eradicating the source.

Malware spreads spam by infecting a computer by secretly accessing a computer system without the owner's informed consent. The infection can spread through several sources including computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, spyware, dishonest adware, crimeware, most rootkits, and other malicious and unwanted software. In the end you are left with a barely working machine that could be blasting out spam and spreading the infection further.

Trojans are malware that appear to perform a desirable function for the user prior to run or install but instead facilitates unauthorized access of the user's computer system. It is a harmful piece of software that looks legitimate. Users are typically tricked into loading and executing it on their systems. Once executed machines are often turned into zombie bots that send out spam.

Viruses are computer programs that can copy themselves and infect computers. A virus can spread from one computer to another (in some form of executable code) when its host is taken to the target computer; for instance because a user sent it over a network or the Internet, or carried it on a removable medium such as a floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB drive.

New Spam Tactics
Filter providers continue to hone their techniques in this constant game of cat and mouse. The latest trend is a shift to email worms. "The worm arrives via emails with the subject line 'Here You Have' or something similar, and the messages contain a link to a site that will download a malicious file to the victim's PC. The malware then drops itself into the Windows directory with a file name of CSRSS.EXE, which is identical to a legitimate Windows file." (Slashdot)

Wrap up
A few years ago the worse spam you saw was "image spam", this type of spam tricked the filters because it was a .jpg or .gif file that was at that time allowed by most servers as a non-threat. However, each day spam is evolving to become more aggressive and preys on your unassuming users. As well, many sources of online threats have shifted their attention from launching attacks through email systems and have targeted web browsers as an often unguarded entryway into a network. To combat all of these threats, it is highly recommended to include a Business Perimeter Security Solution in combination with Web Filtering.

Why won't my mobile device work right? Why can't I get a damn signal? WTF!!!

This came up recently in one of my Facebook banters so I thought I'd offer my 2 cents on the subject.


At one time or another, we have all sang this song.  Lately, especially with the release of the iPhone 4, this song is all too common.   Now, to be clear, I am not blaming the carriers for OEM's making bad devices, that would be ignorant.  It seems some people like combining issues into one picture, which is not my intent here.  A bad design is just that, and its mfg should correct or replace it at no charge (much like Apple did after the iPhone 4 fiasco).  What I am referring to specifically is signal loss.  Most of the problems people are having lately  are related to reception issues, regardless of what phone or carrier - no bars, dropped calls, dropped packets, etc. That is a carrier issue, not a OEM issue.  If the supporting infrastructure does not work properly, than the device will not function as expected (think of your office network when a server is down, similar concept).  My point is that we as users need to give the carriers time to implement their upgrades so that the networks function correctly with the newer and more demanding devices...then our devices will function as expected.  Not our problem right?  Wrong, we users set the demand, and in this case, supply is struggling to keep up.  Therefore we need to be patient and wait for the "market" to adjust.  I hope that will happen sooner than later because we users are not slowing down.  In fact, with companies migrating to cloud based services (quickly) mobile devices will become even more popular as they replace desktops and laptops in the business world, further adding to the already congested cellular data infrastructure.  The carriers know the complicated road before them and are rushing to make right...it just takes time.


Remember when 3G came out and how many complaints users had about dropped calls and not being able to access the Internet?  That was before everyone had a smartphone too...in that case, as is the case now, the network could not keep up with the users.  It took years for the network to catch up, and it is still not perfect today, though it is functional and healthy technology.


Since it will probably be asked, "what about the stupid antennae location problem with th eiPhone 4?"  The whole issue with the iPhone 4 was not necessarily because they put the antenna in a bad place, it was a combination of AT&T not being able to handle the increased data demand along with the current demand on its infrastructure AND the new software (iOS4.0) having a bug in the way it interpreted the cellular signal coming in.  That was quickly fixed with a software update (remember iOS 4.0.1) and Apple had started taking back iPhone 4's and swapping them out for 3GS's at no charge, even refunding the difference to make good with the customer.  AT&T still has work to do with regards to its signal strength to the masses, but so do Sprint, T-Mobile & Verizon.


Be patient my friends!

Here's a link to a similar issue with Droid 2: http://www.redmondpie.com/motorola-droid-2-falls-victim-to-antennagate-users-complain-of-signal-loss-even-without-touching-the-phone/

Carrier Unlock for iPhone

As promised, the iPhone Dev-Team has released the carrier unlocking tool called Ultrasn0w for US based iPhone 4 users who are stuck with AT&T network. For those of you who don’t know, carrier unlock for US iPhone 4s required complete rewrite ofultrasn0w software because of the new baseband OS present in iPhone 4.

Since Apple is selling unlocked iPhone 4s internationally, it is only the United States users who are still locked on AT&T network. So if you want to use your new iPhone 4 on networks other than AT&T, like T-Mobile for example, you can use this newly released Ultrasn0w 1.0 software to unlock your phone.

Simply follow the instructions posted below to unlock your iPhone 4 on iOS 4.0.1 / 4.0 on 01.59.00 baseband.

NOTE: T-Mobile US users will have to disable 3G by navigation to: Settings->General->Network and turning the "Enable 3G" switch to OFF before installing the ultrasn0w unlock.

How to: Jailbreak iPhone 4 on iOS 4.0.1:
Step 1: Unlocking requires that your phone is jailbroken on the latest firmware. Follow the complete guide posted here to jailbreak your iPhone 4 on iOS 4.0.1 / 4.0 usingJailbreakMe 2.0.

How to: Unlock iPhone 4 (Any Baseband) on iOS 4.0.1: 
Step 2: Once you are done with the jailbreak, you can now unlock your iPhone on any baseband using Ultrasn0w 1.0-1 from Cydia. To do this:

• Start “Cydia” on your iPhone.
• Touch on “Manage” tab on the bottom.
• Now touch on “Sources” as seen in the screenshot below:

• Touch on “Edit” and then on “Add”. You will be prompted to enter a url source as seen in the screenshot below. Type “http://repo666.ultrasn0w.com” and touch on“Add Source” to add this repo if you haven’t already.

Cydia will now automatically update your sources by following a series of automated steps.

• After installation is completed. Search for “ultrasn0w 1.0-1” in Cydia and install this application. This app will automatically unlock your iPhone so that you can use it with any carrier.

Step 3: Now simply restart your iPhone and voila! you should now have a fully unlocked iPhone 4 !

Disclaimer: This guide is for testing & educational purposes only. I’m not responsible for any loss of important data or malfunctioning of your iPhone.

Why should I Jailbreak my iPhone?

In the past 6-months, I have gotten this question a lot - especially in the past 24-hours since @comex released the new all-in-one jailbreak.  Well, that's not an easy straight forward answer and takes some explanation.  I got this great article from another blogger.  One thing to keep in mind that a lot of the apps in Cydia may not yet work on the new iOS4, the jailbreak is brand new and developers need to make the updates - here it goes:

Why Jailbreak? Top 5 Reasons to jailbreak iPhone

Since I started blogging about jailbreak and upgrade methods for iPhone, I have received emails from readers about reason for jailbreak and the difference between jailbreak and unlock. And question like, “My iPhone already got Apple’s AppStore to download applications. Is there any reason to jailbreak my iPhone?”. I thought it’ll be good to write up a blog post to address all the similar questions. First, let me explain the question about “Unlock iPhone vs Jailbreak”.

In brief, jailbreak your iphone means you are allowed to install 3rd party applications on iPhone. This applies to all version of firmwares. And, for unlocking iPhone, it refers to the process to open up your iPhone to accept all carriers. Unlocked iPhone allows you to use SIM card from all carriers. You are no longer bind to the official carrier (e.g. AT&T) approved by Apple.

So, with the introduction of iPhone AppStore, why do we still need to jailbreak? For this question, mostly queried by iPhone 3G users, I have thought of 5 reasons to jailbreak iPhone even with the presence of AppStore.

Reason #1 – Install 3rd pary applications via Cydia and Installer

The introduction of AppStore in iPhone 2.0 is the best feature for this firmware update, I have to admit. But even with thousands of applications available on AppStore, there are some other great applications, such as Netshare, banned by Apple to hit the Appstore for certain reasons. And this is the place where Cydia and Installer comes in and let you download all 3rd party applications. Some of the great applications you can find on Cydia are:

• Cycorder / Video Recorder – Let you capture video on iPhone
• NemusSync – Sync iPhone calendar with Google Calendar
• MxTube – Download and save YouTube video on iPhone
• iAcces – Let you use all kinds of Chinese Input Method
• iPhoneModem – Let you use iPhone as modem and give your laptop connection to Internet via iPhone
• Mame4iPhone – Play arcade game on iPhone
• MyWi4 - Allows you to use your iPhone as a wireless access point (watch your data usage here, your PC will swallow your 3G bandwidth quick)

Reason #2 – Video Recording

Compared iPhone with any other mobile phone in the market, there is one area iPhone would definitely lose – Video Recording. With jailbreak iPhone, however, you can easily turn the iPhone camera into video camera for video recording by using Cycorder or iPhone Video Recorder.

Reason #3 – Changing iPhone Looks & Feel

Are you bored with the standard icons that come with iPhone? Ever think of changing the look of iPhone? With jailbreak iPhone, you can use Winterboard to apply theme on iPhone and make it look even cooler. Here are just a few samples to show what Winterboard can do for you:

Reason #4 – Full control of your iPhone

This may not be the reason for non-tech iPhone user. But for geeks, this may be why you need to jailbreak the iPhone. As you may know, the inner part of iPhone is a trim-down version of Mac OS X, which is actually a Unix core. So, you may wonder whether you can install some Unix applications such as Apache web server, on the iPhone. The answer is yes. With iPhone jailbreak, you can install a lightweight version of HTTP server and other similiar servers. And, one server that most Jailbreak iPhone users are using is a SSH daemon. With SSH, you can connect to iPhone remotely and transfer any file to/from it. Pretty cool, right? You can further refer to this post about how you can use SSH to transfer ringtone to the iPhone.

Reason #5 – Unlock iPhone

Lastly, the most common reason for jailbreaking iPhone is for unlock. This is one of the mandatory steps you need to through before you can unlock iPhone.

Note: Presently, there is no unlock solution for iPhone 3G. QuickPwn/WinPwn/Pwnage Tool can only jailbreak iPhone 3G.You can now use yellowsn0w or ultrasn0w to unlock iPhone 3G. Follow this guide to unlock your iPhone 3G or this unlock guide for iPhone 3GS.

Hope this post can answer all your questions about jailbreak and help you consider whether jailbreaking is for you. If you have already made up your mind, you can start looking at this post (Mac / Windows) about how you can use PwnageTool or Redsn0w to jailbreak iPhone.

"All Purpose" Jailbreak for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, All OSes - How To & My Feedback

First, big props to @comex, @saurik and apple dev team for providing this JB to the masses.  You all kick ass!


Second, how is this done?  Well, it is more simple than you could imagine, a noob could do this (no offense intended, it is just that easy) - here's the procedure:

HOW TO: Go to Settings on your device, select Safari, scroll down, clear your cache, clear your history, clear your cookies, hard-reboot the device (that means full power down and restart). Once you are back at your homescreen, open Safari and visit http://jailbreakme.com/ on your device

you should be taken to this page

Follow the on-screen instructions, "slide to jailbreak", practice your patience and you should be good to go!  NOTE:  It make take a couple minutes to get started (some saw wait times up to 15-minutes from posts I read last night).  Do not get discouraged if this does not work the first or second time, there are a lot of people hitting this site because it was only released within the last 24-hours.  @saurik was working on scaling the hosts last night and said it should be GTG now, regardless, be patient and come back to it later if it does not work right away.

Took me 3.5 minutes on my Pod Touch 2G (non-MC model) running iOS 4.0.  This is an untethered jailbreak (means you do not have to have it plugged into your computer system to work, AND you can hard-reboot while jailbroken - bonus!!), the process is recommended to be performed on WiFi, not 3G (let me know if you get it to work on 3G, I'm curious).  

IMPORTANT NOTE: FOR iOS 4+; there is an important update to Cydia that I had to get done in order for the default repositories to function properly.  It took me a few hard-reboots to get it to automatically download, but eventually it did and everything functions as expected - you can try to force the update if you do end up having problems with Cydia being able to cache the default repositories; here's the package details:

     Package Name: "Base Structure"

The default version is 1-3; you need it to be version 1-4 in order for the default repositories to work, such as the one that allows you to download ROCK (rockapp).

Third, what do I think?  

Well, I'm happy to be jailbroken again, I missed my radar loader most of all.  One major drawback, but not technically an issue - since the iPod Touch 2G on iOS4 does not support user wallpapers on the home-screen, neither does the setting in Winterboard (this is by default from Apple, only the iPod Touch 3G can do this.  Also notable is the fact that the iPod Touch 1G & 2G CANNOT multi-task under iOS4, again only the 3G model has the capability).  HOWEVER, themes downloaded from ROCK or Cydia that contain homescreen wallpapers DO work.  You can still customize the lock-screen though (thank you @ceoSteveJobs).  One thing to be mindful of is that most of the apps in both Cydia and ROCK (as of this blog posting) are NOT compatible with iOS4 (such as the popular ANDROID LOCK app, which is only avilable for iOS <3.2).  This upset me initially because I happen to like the ANDROID LOCK.  Now that there is a JB for iOS4+, my hope is that the hackers of the app worlds will unite quickly and roll out updates.

Some of you may ask, "when is the Geek gonna release some dope apps?"  Well, all in due time my friends, all in due time.