iOS 6 Untethered Jailbreak for iPhone 5 News Update: iPhone Dev Team Member @MuscleNerd Exposes Two Frauds

News

Jailbreak Updates

By Cammy Harbison on October 31, 2012 12:53 PM EDT 0

Photo: ibtimes.uk.com

The demand for an iOS 6 untethered jailbreak for iPhone 5, and other iOS 6 upgraded devices has been running high ever since the new system arrived on the scene, and it seems each week a new group of jailbreakers surfaces, claiming to be near the untethered jailbreak finish line. If you are like me, you probably see these newbies surface and hope that what they will bring the Cydia goodness we all desire in untethered style. Unfortunately, however, last night things got heated on Twitter as iPhone Dev Team member, @MuscleNerd, adeptly exposed two more frauds claiming to soon release an iOS 6 untethered jailbreak for iPhone 5, iPhone 4S and other Apple devices.

As you know, I recently shared with you the teams claiming they were working the iOS 6 untethered jailbreaks (If you missed the article check it out here).

Two of the teams were comprised of some well-known members such as @planetbeing from the iPhone Dev Team, and then one newbie to the scene-- a kid who goes by Twitter handle @JHerthop.

I found out about @JHerthop from a friend about two weeks ago who said his tweets suggested @JHerthop was working an iOS 6 untethered jailbreak for iPhone 5, 4S and other Apple devices. Though I was somewhat skeptical, I decided to check him out and see what he was posting.

Here is what I found:

"Enjoying some nice hacking with some pizza. Definitely the jailbreak for iOS 6 is near finished. ;)"

A few days passed and then this surfaced:

Readers: iPhone 4S untethered jailbreak is almost finished :)

After these tweets, @JHerthop gathered a bit of attention as folks began asking about his progress and process. Here is one conversation which transpired:

Photo: Twitter

Well, after viewing this set of tweets, I began to get the sense something was "not quite right"-- though to be honest, I couldn't put my finger on why. Still, I kept an eye on the fellow and watched to see what else he would say or reveal.

Days passed and no word on the iOS 6 untethered jailbreak for iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S.

When asked about the progress, @JHerthop tweeted what appeared to be a probable reason for the slow down:

"Bad news. Apple will probably be releasing iOS 6.0.1 along with the ipad mini Tuesday. Possibly a very important exploit will be patched :("

Earlier that week, I had written an article suggesting patches to valuable exploits may be made with the release of iOS 6.0.1, which could foil hackers' iOS 6 untethered jailbreak progress and this tweet appeared to confirm it. Still, in reading his tweets, there was something all too odd about this newbie's claims and upon further exploration, some definitive cracks in his story surfaced.

For example, when I looked through his tweet list, I found he had asked several others about their progress on an iOS 6 untethered jailbreak for iPhone 5--including washed up @Iike_a_sir from the infamous TeamDr1zzle fiasco which occurred just the month before.

In addition, he spent an awful lot of his time tweeting amateur developers for links to alternate Cydia-type programs which allow access to some jailbreak-like tweaks without having to be jailbroken. He also mentioned a scam or two he fell for which resulted in acquiring a virus.

Not sure about you, but doesn't sound like the tweets of a hacker to me...

The real red flag, however, came when @JHerthop upped the ante, advertising a new website and a name for his exploit--Claash, which he was taking donations for through Paypal. At this point it became pretty clear this kid was a total fraud, as true developers like the iPhone Dev Team or the Chronic Dev team have never requested donations prior to releasing an actual product.

Though the writing was on the wall concerning "Claash", unfortunately there were still several people who continued to support and sadly donate to the iOS 6 untethered jailbreak "Claash" fund.

Having had enough of the façade, a few onlookers began putting pressure on @JHerthop to produce the goods in the form of pictures, video or something. @Jherthop did share a video through YouTube, but it wasn't long before that received mass criticism as a simulation rather than the real deal.

With each request for further proof, @JHerthop produced increasinlgy more feeble excuses, including a broken webcam. His poor attempts at pulling the wool over people's eyes only resulted in growing doubts. Here are just a few of the tweets surfacing at that time by doubtful onlookers:

"Let's see a video of your jailbreak."

"Make a video showing the device jail broken and actually show the device, not an emulator on a computer monitor"

"Can u supply a screenshot of the application? Of at least Cydia running on your iPhone?"

"Can u show like Passbooks or something else opening? I don't see it there, I just need enough proof to donate big"

"Listen man, I really think you should stop with your whole #claash bs! It's not helping anyone, and very misleading!"

" LOL I think you're stalling..."

"Show us proof! I want to believe you, but no one has seen anything."

" Please just stop buddy. your not fooling anyone but yourself."

After several minutes of the commentary, a voice everyone listens to when it speaks surfaced, sealing the deal on @JHerthop and his phony iOS 6 untethered jailbreak scheme.

iPhone Dev Team member, @MuscleNerd, entered the conversation with these tweets:

Photo: Twitter

Of course it would be pretty hard to dig yourself out of that hole so, trapped in his corner, @JHerthop finally admitted the scheme by tweeting this:

Photo: Twitter

Soon after, a barrage of criticism flooded @JHerthop's page as he desperately tweeted the following:

"I purposely put those clues out that it was fake so people could figure it out. You can still follow me, I will update you on all the news!"

____________________________________________

Meanwhile, @MuscleNerd continued to strike while the iron was hot, dispelling yet another iOS 6 untethered jailbreak team myth that had been plaguing Twitter for well over a week.

The team's name is BlackW1dow and is headed up by tweeter @Defiant6.This team is a spawn of the earlier TeamDr1zzle.

For a couple weeks, @Defiant6 had been posting tweets suggesting he was coming near to an iOS 6 untethered jailbreak for iPhone 5, 4S and iPads, and offered this photo yesterday as his "proof".

Photo: Twitter

It was this tweet that @MuscleNerd decided to exploit, citing these problems with the claim:

" You accidentally copy-and-pasted that stray "0" to the left of "Photos" when editing it...and the main edit job you did isn't very good"

If you are not real clear on the problems @MuscleNerd is referring to, look again to the left the word Photos in @Defiant6's "screen shot". Notice there is an oddly positioned "0". This is no bug--rather, a poor editing job as @MuscleNerd noted.

Now take a look at this blown up picture @Musclenerd offered of @Defiant6's tweet.

Photo: Twitter

Look to the left of the "6" and you will notice the edge is slightly cut off...this would indicate photo editing also, or in other words, TOTAL FRAUD!

With @Musclenerd two for two on exposing frauds @Defiant6 went on the defensive, and for the next several minutes, attempted to explain away the situation, throwing out immature insults at @MuscleNerd. @MuscleNerd took the insults in stride, while letting @Defiant6 know all everyone really wanted was some honesty.

Photo: Twitter

@Defiant6 refused, however, to give in and is still tweeting that an iOS 6 untethered jailbreak for iPhone 5, 4S and other Apple devices will come out of team Black W1d0w.

So now we're two teams down, placing us back to where we were to begin with. Keeping and eye on developers like the iPhone Dev Team and the Chronic Dev Team, and taking all other claims with a grain of salt.

I'm not telling to you to mistrust amateurs completely; however, in a conversation with @MuscleNerd himself, the iPhone Dev team member shared some thoughts with me which are a good basis for keeping up skepticism when newbies come on the scene with loud claims.

Here's what he told me:

"It's almost always teenage boys who pull this stuff... it's really is quite hard for anyone to come up to speed on all the stuff to create a JB today... [and] when they do (Comex and @pod2g are good examples of this) they don't make some big splash on Twitter first. They work quietly... if you read @mdowd's or @pod2g's stuff or look at Comex's github, it's incredibly technical, and a 15yo simply isn't going to do that unless they're a genius, but a genius wouldn't act like this on Twitter"

Makes sense huh? Though people bother and tweet asking @planetbeing, @MuscleNerd, @pod2g and others for updates, their silence is not an indicator of disinterest--or even that they are not working. Rather, it shows they know the task which is before them and focus on that rather than building their fan club.

So, for today, keep watching. Though it may be a lot further away than we were hoping, rest assured an iOS 6 untethered jailbreak for iPhone 5 and 4S will eventually surface. And when it does, we will all celebrate.

Like this article?

Follow Cammy on Twitter @cammywrites for latest stories and updates.

_____________________________________________________________