Top all-time · #622
Jonathan Zdziarski
Personal blog · zdziarski.comsecuritypoliticsphilosophy
Jonathan Zdziarski writes Zdziarski, a personal blog at zdziarski.com about security, politics and philosophy. Since 2008, 100 different Hacker News readers have linked it 201 times, most often “Apple, FBI, and the Burden of Forensic Methodology”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-09-12, and you can follow it by feed.
Sometimes recommended · 11 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Jonathan Zdziarski's blog for iOS security and forensics: how police can and cannot get into phones, pair-locking devices, and the FBI and Apple encryption case.
- Recommended for · 11 comments
- explained a lot, very interesting, worth reading, enlightening, more informative, most thorough deconstruction
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- Apple, FBI, and the Burden of Forensic Methodology18 people · 18 mentions · first linked 2016-02-19
- Counter-Forensics: Pair-Lock Your Device with Apple’s Configurator7 people · 8 mentions · first linked 2017-02-10
- Identifying backdoors, attack points, and surveillance mechanisms in iOS devices5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2014-07-19
- Protecting Your Data at a Border Crossing5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2017-02-11
- Little Flocker: Ransomware and Spyware Protection via File Access Enforcement4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2016-08-04
- Can We Put the 16GB “Pro” Myth to Rest?3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2016-11-04
- Apple Confirms “Back Doors”, Downplays Their Severity3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2014-07-23
- Open List of Requested iOS Security Improvements3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2016-02-25
- On FBI’s Interference with iCloud Backups3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2016-02-21
- On the State of Open Source3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2016-10-03
What Hacker News says?
I've spent the last 4 years doing development from a 2012 macbook air with 8 gigs of ram. Its been totally fine, except when I've got a million chrome tabs open. (Declaring bankrupcy and closing them all at once feels great though.) The posted article is about a mac version of visual studio. Coincidentally, visual studio only runs in 32 bit mode and hence can only make use of 4 gigs of ram total: https://blogs.msdn.…
Comment linking /blog/?p=6355
on “Visual Studio for Mac”Submitted Apple Confirms “Back Doors”, Downplays Their Severity as a story · 422 points
HN discussion> Poorly written, over-priced assumptionware. https://www.zdziarski.com/blog/?p=3717
Comment linking /blog/?p=3717
on “No, Cellebrite Cannot “Break Signal Encryption””Submitted Identifying backdoors, attack points, and surveillance mechanisms in iOS devices as a story · 325 points
HN discussionThe FBI said it was 100% totally fine with giving the phone to Apple and just having remote access to the phone in this one specific case. It's really up to the court to decide that, and this post makes the argument that it may not be possible to keep the tools under wraps if the case progresses: http://www.zdziarski.com/blog/?p=5645
Comment linking /blog/?p=5645
on “Snowden: FBI obscuring crucial details in Apple case”Submitted OnStar Begins Spying On Customers’ GPS Location For Profit as a story · 264 points
HN discussion> This is a personal, spare-time project ... I very much admire and appreciate the work you've done bootstrapping Abot in your spare time. Now that Microsoft is in the game, my concern is we will see a "tower of babel" type of situation develop for bots emanating from the corporate behemoths (i.e., here come the Facebook bots, Google bots, Amazon of course, and Apple might play catch up too at WWDC). I much prefer g…
Comment linking /blog/?p=5948
on “Microsoft Bot Framework”Submitted My Take on FBI's “Alternative” Method as a story · 149 points
HN discussionTo me this post explained a lot of the legal side of the issue: http://www.zdziarski.com/blog/?p=5645 I think it may have been on HN earlier.
Comment linking /blog/?p=5645
on “Answers to your questions about Apple and security”Submitted An Example of Forensic Science at Its Worst: US v. Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair as a story · 114 points
HN discussionZdziarski's "iOS Forensic Investigative Methods"[0] is a free eBook which can be helpful if you're interested in native penetration testing. [0]: http://www.zdziarski.com/blog/?p=2287
Comment linking /blog/?p=2287
on “Penetration Testing Tools Cheat Sheet”Submitted How to randomize your MAC address on OS X as a story · 81 points
HN discussion> The bill establishes that: No one is above the law. Yes - except diplomats, journalists, doctors, as well as conversations between people in person are all "warrant-proof", and therefore "above the law" as Feinstein calls it. As Zdziarski also says in his post below [1], the 4th amendment doesn't grant the U.S. government anything. It tries to restrict the U.S. government from overreach. It says only upon probable…
Comment linking /blog/?p=5912
on “Intelligence Committee Leaders Release Discussion Draft of Encryption Bill”Submitted Preliminary Findings on Whisper as a story · 77 points
HN discussionAnd, importantly, you can trigger it immediately instead of waiting an hour. Since around iOS 11 this USB lockout and “require pin, not FaceID/TouchID” used to be 5 clicks of the power button, and triggered it immediately. Also brings up an emergency button no matter what you were doing. After this screen, pin is required. Prior to this Lockdown mode, for best results you also may want to use Apple Configurator or J…
Comment linking /blog/?p=2589
on “About Lockdown Mode”Submitted A Warning to the Tech Community on Abusive Journalists as a story · 66 points
HN discussionFor anyone concerned that authorities force you to give up your password to them (thus allowing them to image your device), you can pair your iPhone to a computer with a MDM (managed device profile), which will prevent any other device from connecting to it. iOS security researcher (now Apple employee) Jonathan Zdziarski has 2 blog posts on this: Counter-Forensics: Pair-Lock Your Device with Apple’s Configurator: ht…
Comment linking /blog/?p=6918
on “Under iOS 11, authorities won’t be able to image your device without a passcode”Submitted An open letter to Steve Jobs about approving the amber alert application as a story · 55 points
HN discussionThe URL should IMHO be http://www.zdziarski.com/blog/?p=3441 (primary source) or even directly http://www.zdziarski.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/iOS... .
Comment linking /blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/iOS_Backdoors_Attack_Points_Surveillance_Mechanisms.pdf
on “Identifying backdoors, attack points, and surveillance mechanisms in iOS devices”Submitted Waze: Google’s New Spying Tool as a story · 48 points
HN discussionMr Zdziarski gave this talk also at the HOPE conference yesterday. It's highly recommended. Slides: http://www.zdziarski.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/iOS... For the people wanting to secure their iphone, go to the end to the slide "Apple Configurator" and follow the described steps to disable your iphone from paring with anything.
Comment linking /blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/iOS_Backdoors_Attack_Points_Surveillance_Mechanisms.pdf
on “Identifying backdoors, attack points, and surveillance mechanisms in iOS devices”Submitted FiOS vs. Cable During a Windstorm as a story · 47 points
HN discussionOne of the many problems with the way the FBI is asking for Apple to get into the phone is they are asking for a tool (an instrument) to be built, not for Apple to just give them the data. The FBI could have filed for Apple to get them the data by brute forcing the pin code. They didn't ask for that, they asked for Apple to make a tool that could be used by the FBI to brute force the pin code themselves. This is a h…
Comment linking /blog/?p=5645
on “The US Government has no credibility to compel anybody to weaken security”Submitted Identifying Attack Points and Surveillance Mechanisms in iOS Devices [pdf] as a story · 42 points
HN discussionIt isn't as simple as creating the tool, read this blog post that was linked elsewhere in this thread that explains why they can't just create and delete the tool. http://www.zdziarski.com/blog/?p=5645
Comment linking /blog/?p=5645
on “FBI’s Comey Concedes Mistake Was Made Over iPhone in San Bernardino Case”Submitted Do what defines you as a story · 41 points
HN discussionIn support of this, someone forwarded me a very interesting article written by someone who creates forensic software for a living. The legal requirements surrounding the creation of a software tool for forensic purposes, which this proposed effort requested by the government might fall under, are nothing less than herculean in scope. http://www.zdziarski.com/blog/?p=5645
Comment linking /blog/?p=5645
on “FBI’s Comey Concedes Mistake Was Made Over iPhone in San Bernardino Case”Submitted Retro Scams: Authenticating Early Nintendo Systems and Games as a story · 40 points
HN discussionIncorrect -- they requested an "instrument", which carries with it all sorts of legal requirements beyond creating an in-house tool. Source: http://www.zdziarski.com/blog/?p=5645
Comment linking /blog/?p=5645
on “FBI agrees to unlock iPhone for Arkansas prosecutor”Submitted Can We Put the 16GB “Pro” Myth to Rest? as a story · 32 points
HN discussion
