Chinese government allegedly cracks Apple's AirDrop security to identify message senders

In a recent revelation, the Chinese government has claimed to have cracked the security of AirDrop , Apple's content-sharing feature, to trace message origins and identify suspects, although it has not been disclosed whether any arrests have been made using this information.

AirDrop's anonymity feature has been a key factor in its widespread use by activists to share information about protests and other content that is typically censored by the government. However, this alleged security breach could potentially compromise the service's use for such purposes.

The Beijing Institute, without detailing the hack, disclosed that it involved accessing an iPhone's encrypted device log. They allegedly used them to create a "rainbow table", a method to reverse cryptographic hash functions, enabling them to convert hidden hash values back into original text and link phone numbers and email accounts of AirDrop senders.