Unauthorized third-party Lightning authentication chips reportedly in production
An image published on Monday showed what is claimed to be a number of non-approved Lightning authentication chips, suggesting that unauthorized third-party accessories may hit store shelves before Apple's own partners are able to produce their own products.
Alleged unauthorized Lightning authentication chips. | Source: Apple.pro via BGR
With Lightning cables and adapters already in short supply from Apple, currently the only producer of said accessories, many unlicensed third-party manufacturers have been looking to take advantage of the situation, though the connector's security chip proved to be an effective deterrent against such production.
Apple's security measures may have been cracked, however, as Apple.pro (via BGR) posted an image of what it claims to be "third party non-approved authentication chips" for Lightning cables.
According to the source of the photo, there are currently "multiple versions" of the unauthorized chip being produced in China, possibly pointing to the imminent release of inexpensive accessories.
If legitimate, the unauthorized authentication chips pose a serious threat to Apple's own "Made for iPhone/iPad/iPod" partners, as the unlicensed accessories would be on the market well before official MFI products. Apple is scheduled to discuss Lightning's terms of use with MFI manufacturers in November, and it is unclear if the third-parties will be able to make accessories in time for the holiday shopping season.
AppleInsider was first to report that Apple was presumedly using authentication chips in its new 30-pin dock connector replacement, with the discovery seemingly confirmed by a teardown of the Lightning port by Chipworks. In the investigation, the analysis firm found that the embedded authentication chip uses security technology seen in printer cartridges, which was declared to offer "just enough" security for the time being.
A report in early October suggested that Apple's chip had been reverse engineered, though the rumor failed to yield any products.
Alleged unauthorized Lightning authentication chips. | Source: Apple.pro via BGR
With Lightning cables and adapters already in short supply from Apple, currently the only producer of said accessories, many unlicensed third-party manufacturers have been looking to take advantage of the situation, though the connector's security chip proved to be an effective deterrent against such production.
Apple's security measures may have been cracked, however, as Apple.pro (via BGR) posted an image of what it claims to be "third party non-approved authentication chips" for Lightning cables.
According to the source of the photo, there are currently "multiple versions" of the unauthorized chip being produced in China, possibly pointing to the imminent release of inexpensive accessories.
If legitimate, the unauthorized authentication chips pose a serious threat to Apple's own "Made for iPhone/iPad/iPod" partners, as the unlicensed accessories would be on the market well before official MFI products. Apple is scheduled to discuss Lightning's terms of use with MFI manufacturers in November, and it is unclear if the third-parties will be able to make accessories in time for the holiday shopping season.
AppleInsider was first to report that Apple was presumedly using authentication chips in its new 30-pin dock connector replacement, with the discovery seemingly confirmed by a teardown of the Lightning port by Chipworks. In the investigation, the analysis firm found that the embedded authentication chip uses security technology seen in printer cartridges, which was declared to offer "just enough" security for the time being.
A report in early October suggested that Apple's chip had been reverse engineered, though the rumor failed to yield any products.
Comments
Need some kind of accessories
Originally Posted by Seankill
YES!
Need some kind of accessories
NO!
But I'd prefer they not fry my devices or break in a week.
NVM
FWIW, my Verizon store has plenty of stock of the USB/Lightning charging cables.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
NO!
But I'd prefer they not fry my devices or break in a week.
never had trouble with the ones i got for my iphone 4, charges it nicely, everytime, for says 900+ times? (over 2.2 years ish)
Quote:
Originally Posted by John.B
FWIW, my Verizon store has plenty of stock of the USB/Lightning charging cables.
They are fine, itd just be nice to pay 5-10 bucks for a quality cable, not 20 or 30 whatever they cost (i know its 30 for the adapter)
It would be crazy though if iOS would be able to record that an unathorized cord was connected
i'll wait and see if thats true lol
Originally Posted by Seankill
It would be crazy though if iOS would be able to record that an unathorized cord was connected
It could be iTunes/Palm all over again.
Is this were truly an “authentication” chip, as has been often repeated with too little evidence, then it wouldn’t be crackable like this. It’s not a challenge beyond Apple’s power to meet. It’s a chip, and one that is needed for Lightning... but is it truly an authentication chip? The “media” (er, blogs) never seem to question it.
How can an illegal, unauthorised, copy of someone else's product ever be thought of as "legitimate?"
You people need to use a dictionary more often. It is illegitimate by definition in both the legal sense as well as the originality/identity sense.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gazoobee
"If legitimate ..."
How can an illegal, unauthorised, copy of someone else's product ever be thought of as "legitimate?"
You people need to use a dictionary more often. It is illegitimate by definition in both the legal sense as well as the originality/identity sense.
The picture, the source, the claim.
Not the product.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Seankill
They are fine, itd just be nice to pay 5-10 bucks for a quality cable, not 20 or 30 whatever they cost (i know its 30 for the adapter)
I think we paid $19 for the real deal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hentaiboy
The picture, the source, the claim.
Not the product.
It still wasn't clear what the particular "legitimate" was referring to and there were many other words that could have been used.
Frankly we really don't know much at all about this interface, it's capability, speeds or anything else.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gazoobee
"If legitimate ..."
How can an illegal, unauthorised, copy of someone else's product ever be thought of as "legitimate?"
I believe they meant "legitimate" in the Todd Akin sense of the word.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gazoobee
"If legitimate ..."
How can an illegal, unauthorised, copy of someone else's product ever be thought of as "legitimate?"
You people need to use a dictionary more often. It is illegitimate by definition in both the legal sense as well as the originality/identity sense.
Here's another word, "pedantic".
It's not necessarily illegal to reverse engineer something like this. If the engineers were just given the specs for what was needed, and never even saw the Lightning connector; and if they developed chips according to those specs that worked, then yes, these chips could be considered legal... and legitimate (though not to the source).
There is absolutely nothing that points to this being an authentication chip but I guess that makes it easier to get page hits.
Quote:
Originally Posted by John.B
I think we paid $19 for the real deal.
True, just for the cord though.
Just saying, everyone on here seems to think that just because they aren't "Apple Approved", means that they suck (i am sure some do).
My mom, girlfriend, and I all used cords that were not "Apple Quality" for our iphone 4s, so probably a combined 2500 charges over 2ish years, we all three still have our iphone 4s as backup phones and ipods. So just saying, i also have to note, that we had cords from 3 different suppliers.
Though the lightning cord is a much different cord. Will be interesting to see how they work. I will wait for some feedback first lol
I'm not sure why everybody's calling it some sort of "security authentication chip." It started when some random guy decided to pry apart the cable, saw a chip in there, and assumed it was some kind of DRM chip.
It's an active cable, just like Thunderbolt. Instead of having 30 pins that are rarely used and take up extra space, Apple moved some circuitry outside of the device and now has 9 pins that that auto-configure themselves and can do multiple things based on whatever's plugged into it. The chip just helps to tells the iDevice what the pins are supposed to do when something gets plugged in.
Apple does have other methods of "authentication," but that chip isn't one of them.
Also an interesting read: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6330/the-iphone-5-review/14