Ask HN: Can anyone remotely blow up my iPhone and kill me in the USA?

5 points by anon115 9 months ago | 15 comments
  • JohnFen 9 months ago
    Not unless they managed to pack explosives into it.
    • LinuxBender 9 months ago
      And never scanned by TSA, not that they would always catch it. They will likely pay much more attention to detail now either way.
    • illuminant 9 months ago
      An unknown exploit that causes your battery to overheat in just the right circumstance (active sensory conditions met), not inconscievable.

      I think our society is set to implode due to our lack of awareness and incompetents. Relying upon others to keep you safe is a form of incompetence.

      Explore open source hardware. Go solar punk. Keep your dumb phone and your smart pad separate physical devices, which proxy.

      Good luck staying safe!

      • JohnFen 9 months ago
        > An unknown exploit that causes your battery to overheat in just the right circumstance (active sensory conditions met), not inconscievable.

        It's not inconceivable, but it is extraordinarily unlikely (and even harder to engineer). Even in critical conditions, batteries are extremely unlikely to actually explode. Burst into flames, sure, if there's physical damage or the battery protection circuitry was bypassed. Explode? Not really.

        • illuminant 9 months ago
          Your completely off.

          Iphones had that wifi/Bluetooth transceiver bug THE WHOLE TIME

          FOR OVER TEN YEARS A PRIMITIVE EXPLOIT ALLOWED SUB-SYSTEM (pre- kernel) REMOTE ACCESS.

          Your bases do not belong to themselves.

          Think proactively, not as fodder.

          • illuminant 9 months ago
            Exploding at high altitude?

            buff

            • illuminant 9 months ago
              And not to carry on, though did you miss the recent youtube scroll of the battery fire in China?

              You speak with confidence to yesterday's troubles that were not so far away.

              Your confidence is your undermining, Man.

              • talldayo 9 months ago
                A battery fire is not an explosion. Thermal runaway can be detected by the user long before their phone bursts into flame; the battery cell will become extremely hot and inflate to the point your device breaks before ignition. Most people will notice minutes in advance and dispose of/distance themselves from their handset entirely.
          • jfengel 9 months ago
            In the USA, if somebody wants you dead, they'll just shoot you. Or put a bomb in your car.

            Going through the effort of compromising a supply chain and creating fake devices with explosives is way too much work. You're a very soft target. Getting to you is easy.

            Israel used such a complicated way to get at its enemies because their targets are harder. They are militants at war. It's get to get physically close to them, and they are on the lookout for assassination attempts.

            If for some reason they felt compelled to get at you through your device that way, it wouldn't be a phone. Those are too densely packed to put explosives inside and still function as you expect. They can't get to your specific phone before it's sold to you.

            But if you're worried about all the ways somebody could kill you, you're completely out of luck. If somebody really wanted you dead, you'd be dead.

            • h2odragon 9 months ago
              Prolly not: only Apple and Authorized Partners are supposed to access those functions.
              • proc0 9 months ago
                I wouldn't be asking this question unless you want to be on a list.
                • noashavit 9 months ago
                  what's your number? lol
                • 9 months ago
                  • bucket3141 9 months ago
                    [dead]
                    • xenospn 9 months ago
                      Did you, by chance, fire a rocket into the Middle East recently? If not, I’d say chances are slim. But never zero!