Root Access By: Derek Grove

What Do I Mean By Root?  An account that by default has access to all commands and files on a linux or other Unix-like operating system  Root account, root user, SuperUser  Most privileged account on the system, has absolute power over it.  Ability to modify the system in any way  The root account is the only account with write permissions  The ability to modify files in the root directory

Root Directory  Top level directory on a system  identified by a forward slash ( / )  Unix-like operating systems are designed with a tree-like structure  Sub directories branch off  Only accessible by the rooted user

Reasoning Behind The Root User  Since the beginning (Unix days), systems were set up as a multi-user system  Each user was connected to the mainframe computer by a fairly simple terminal  The root user took on administrator roles  Granting and/or revoking privileges  Updating the systems  Control of the sub directories (normal users)  Bottom Line: Keep ordinary users from messing up the critical parts of the system and to files belonging to other users

Rootkit  Set of software tools installed by an intruder that allows to use the system for its own purposes.  Designed to obtain root access  Although they are usually meant for harm, they can be used to enhance our experiences with things such as mobile devices.  As in use the rootkit to bypass the restrictions set by the developers

Going From $ To #

Benefits of SU(SuperUser) Abilities  Back-up and Tethering  Custom ROMs  Able to defy GUI restrictions  Emulators  IDEs (Interactive Development Environment)  Access to more tools and utilities  Performance Optimization

Moto x: 1 st Customized Phone…

… I’d Beg To Differ

High level languages supported after root  IDEs provide a centralized software in which a programmer can modify, compile, deploy and debug software  The IDE I find to be most flawless is C4droid  Programming by phone or computer, the results are the same.

Emulators  Software that duplicates the desired system in another system  The Guest (duplicated system) must be a less intricate system so the host system can process it  Often for convenience purposes, having multiple systems integrated into one device  Can be used for professional manners such as a TI calculator emulator. Or could be used to re-live the childhood memories with emulators dating from the Atari to the PlayStation one

Apple: Jailbreaking  Gaining access to the entire Unix file system  Endless possibilities to the experienced developer  A lot more “buggy”, due to the complexity of the scripts required  More prevalent to becoming a “brick”  Brick is a common slang term in the rooting world, to describe a device as defective (i.e. it is no more than a brick) 

Jailbreaking Process  Download the rootkit on your computer  Run through the kit’s process where it will run scripts that will hack your device to its desired stage.  Once your device is jailbroken, a tether option is available, which will lock the script so it is still jailbroken even after a reboot.  Use the to….  Download an SSH(Secure Shell) client to populate your device with saved data.  iTunes will not correctly restore your data after it has been jailbroken

Jailbreaking Process: Continued  It is impertinent to change the default password of “alpine” to a more personal means of a password.  Leaving your device “open” leaves you vulnerable at every level  Install other commonly wanted apps such as Winterboard Vshare

Complex Theme For iPhone 

Utilities That Came From The Underground Market  Everything that you can do on your new IOS 7 software, I could do on my 2 nd generation jailbroken iPod Touch  There are many pre-installed features in todays mobile devices that came from the freedoms that hackers provided developers with.  The utilities/tools category has especially grown from the underground market - Flashlight - Screen Capture - Screen Lock(finger lock) - Widgets - WiFi Tethering - Task Killers

Apps  Software that is compatible with a handheld device  Ex.  Apple – iTunes App Store  Android – Google Play  Blackberry – BlackBerry App World  Windows – Windows Phone Store

3 rd Party Apps – For Good  Applications that are distributed outside of the devices’ applications provider(s)  These are the applications of which root users have privileges to  Without root access, the apps are unable to execute due to the platform’s pre set restrictions

3 rd Party Apps – Ethical Contradictions  Along with root access is the ability to download and INSTALL pirated apps.  I emphasize “install”, because anyone can download pirated apps, but normal users cannot bypass the installation restrictions.  Mobile app development is still a relatively new way of programming  It takes a great deal of time to develop the software, and the developers deserve compensation or at least some sort of recognition for it.  So although some find themselves rooting their devices solely on the fact of “free apps”, this could lead to development problems in the future.

Summary  Root access gives you total control of a systems  If there are systems in a network, and you alone are the SU, you can access every piece of information in that network  The power of the SU is endless  We can especially see that with mobile devices, completely altering the restrictions established by the developers

Works Cited    touch/ touch/  