Meet Comex, The 19-Year-Old iPhone Uber-Hacker Who Keeps Outsmarting Apple

So much misinformation. Apple "rushed to patch the security opening" because IT'S A SECURITY FLAW that allows unrestricted code execution via a website. That's a pretty huge problem; shouldn't it be fixed right away?<p>"After Allegra released JailbreakMe 2 last year, Apple upped its game another notch, randomizing the location of code in memory so that hackers can’t even locate commands to hijack them." Another security method, and one that some people ripped on Apple for not including for so long. Now they put it in and it's a paranoid response to stop jailbreakers?<p>Listen, there's no legal issue with jailbreaking. That issue has been settled, as much as it can be without a lawsuit and a court ruling. But Apple is under no obligation to make it easy, or to leave gaping security holes for jailbreak tools to waltz through. We need to stop acting like Apple is persecuting jailbreakers, when what they're really doing is fixing security holes.

I have no clue how there is even a question about the legality of using your own hardware for whatever you want. I could "crash cell phone towers" with my car, but that doesn't give Ford the right to weld my hood shut. Seriously, how is this acceptable to anyone?

Jailbreakme is an amazingly elegant tool. Although I seriously doubt they will, Apple should definitely hire him. His products show that he understands design as well as anyone on their payroll now. That combined with his obvious coding skills make him the ideal Apple engineer.

The kind of control Apple seeks (to what purpose is irrelevant) is doomed to fail. You simple cannot control a device once it's in the possession of an 'adversary' (which in this context seems to be the owner of the device).<p>Once the attacker (again, the owner of the phone who wants to jailbreak) has possession of the phone, he has complete control over it. I wonder if Apple has this internal posture that they should make appearances of caring about jailbreaking (for the benefit of the carriers and their contracts) but actually it's not such a big deal.

One of the strongest job applications I've seen. I guess he can put up Forbes as one of his references now.

He is looking for an internship. Hello, Apple, hire him already.

Ugh. “Obsessive control”? <i>“Obsessive”?</i> It’s a (very smart and seemingly unbeatable) strategy to limit user actions on these devices to known-safe actions, to prevent users from e.g. changing how the system itself works. It keeps down things like: User confusion, malware potential, customer support, third-party developer testing (heterogenous devices), etc.<p>I hate when bullshit business rags ascribe a quality like “obsession” (with the connotation of OCD or some sort of mental imbalance) to a booming business like Apple. As if they know better in this matter, despite the way Apple’s competitors in the market are making crazy little money in comparison…

The kid goes to my school; we're both in the CS department. I met him once, and I saw him around the department a lot while he was still here. I don't know him, but from what I've seen, it's no surprise he hasn't found an internship: the kid is incredibly anti-social. Not to mention that being dismissive of other people in your first year isn't exactly the best way to build up connections.<p>Before I saw this article, I honestly had no idea he was Comex. I could tell he was brilliant, but that's pretty awesome.

<p><pre><code> JailbreakMe’s sophistication is on par with that of Stuxnet </code></pre> No kidding…

&#62; (He agreed to speak after Forbes‘ poking around Twitter, &#62; Facebook and the Brown Directory revealed his name.) B<p>this is the most important part of the story