What are the negative points of Jailbreaking and Rooting phones

Today Jailbreaking and Rooting is very common. There are ample of tools that help you to root your phone and get you unlock features. For iOS Jailbreaking is a kind of trend among people who love to use free applications. I made this thread to find out only the negative aspect of this two things. Android and iOS are two major operating system on mobile platform which has changed the entire outlook of end user. This OS has turned your phone to an portable pc where you can overwrite the software to make it more useful. Is this safe.

Many of us never look at the back side of coin. People use rooted phone for years. The same is applicable for iOS devices. It does not looks complicated from the front, but there can be bugs that you are ignoring. A jailbreaked iOS device is can be more vulnerable. In future we will receive better facility to make payment from your phone itself. At that point such stuff must be avoided. Please list the most negative aspect of Jailbreaking and Rooting.

I know about iOS. I had seen that if the Apple guys found that you had Jailbreaked your mobile phone then you loose the warranty. It is not recommended from security point of view. The same is also applicable for Android phones.

It is right that most of us today forget to check the causes of jailbreaking and rooting. We download a tool from web and software and simply overwrite it on your phone. I can give you some information on iOS. Under jailbreaking you modify the operating system. You are simply overwriting the kernal of your phone. This are the core files and because of which the phone respond to various applications. Jailbreaking tools simply remove any restriction on kernels. But also they hamper the security. The custom OS that you use simply make the operating system vulnerable to threats. That is the reason companies do not give you warranty on such products. You had change the phone OS as you were not authorized for that.

The codes that are used in custom OS are not official. After jailbreaking you might enjoy using many free applications and patches to unlock hidden features. But you opened up some more holes in the back-end. The same thing happens to android. When root you gain admin access to the os files inside it And I assume that even after restoring factory settings this changes still lie in the phone kernel. Because of those custom code a phone became more vulnerable to easy exploitation done by free applications.

My friend has jailbreaked his phone to use cydia. This is actually not approved by apple. The reason are this apps are does contain malicious codes. This codes are there not approved by apple and that is the reason you do not need them on app store.

To some extent you must not go for those stuff. Smartphone are more advance today. Surfing net, video calling are some of the most common features. Soon there will be services which will help you to carry money transaction via phone. There are still many but they are not popular. At that point this kind of jailbreaked and rooted tool can generate major threats. Many of us store personal information in the phone. I keep some my important pin number locked inside a wallet software. Yet I do not worry about the same because my phone still run on official software.

Jailbreaking allows you to run cracked application and any user with nominal technical knowledge can figure out what such cracked stuff can do. Just for some free apps it is not fine to put your confidential information on risk. Today when tablets are booming in market people still jailbreak it get some unlocked feature. But they do not understand what risk it generates. In my views it is not good to jailbreak. People simply encourage unofficial publisher by jailbreaking or rooting to make such kind of tools and applications.

I think you guys are taking this too seriously. Jailbreaking and rooting are regular process which helps people to enjoy more free stuff on their phone. And what more it can cause. There are yet no virus for this devices.

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Originally Posted by GracieSingh

I think you guys are taking this too seriously. Jailbreaking and rooting are regular process which helps people to enjoy more free stuff on their phone. And what more it can cause. There are yet no virus for this devices.

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You are taking that in wrong way. Both process are risk. I will advice you to first read the risk involved in this. I can give you some highlights here. I had read this on OWASP. This is famous group of people who are involved in making stuff more secure. You must read articles provided by them.

There are high risk. It is not right to think that your phone stays safe once you jailbreaked it. The tools that you use install a os with malicious code. With this the attackers can simply control your phone. Your entire operating system is modified. Apple when feed the OS inside it devices they developer ensure that the users get maximum security on all concern. A company would never sell a buggy device in market at those costly rates. When you overwrite the os you are making the phone vulnerable to attacks. Those who are involved in this making of such tools knows clearly what can be done with your phone. Then can extract your contacts, then can add files in your phone without your consent, etc. They can simply manipulate your network also. And if your phone is a part of a corporate network then you can put that on risk. Some free apps that run on such devices have sniffers or keyloggers. They can track your passwords, etc.

I never thought all those things can happen on a phone. That is really risky. Soon antivirus companies will release product for this making the phone more freezing. I believe that one should not go for such cheap methods.

One thing that would also like to highlight that when you jailbreak your device, you give a open access to attackers to capture your sensitive information. Now there are people who use devices for banking transaction, for emails, etc. There are also people who carry important business function on such devices. They must never jailbreak or root their phone. Jailbreaking allows application to install directly without Apples approval. The apps that lies on App store needs to be digital signed and verified. This all is ignored.

Also in Android once the phone is rooted the app get all permission. It has the root access. It is same like giving a stranger your house keys. No one likes to do that. Even if you had jailbreaked update your phone. Those settings will be removed. It is not safer till today to jailbreak or root your phone. Because end user never knows what those tools do to your phone. You are not expert in coding to understand how this process work. So better avoid it. It might be easier for you to jailbreak or root but also the risk increases.