Patent Shows How Apple Might Brick Your Jailbroken iPhone

Jailbreaking your iPhone, iPod or iPad might now be legal in some areas of the world, but Apple still ain’t happy about it.

A new patent shows how Apple might one day be able to detect and disable compromised devices.

The patent, which is elaborate and lengthy, posits that devices which are lost, stolen or hacked are a risk to users peace of mind, and for this reason Apple hopes to kindly disable the hacks or even brick the device.

The source of the issue is that while users may choose to hack their device, the jailbreak methods are all essentially taking advantage of security flaws. Apple views jailbreaks as a weakness, a vulnerability to be patched.

According to an analytics and tracking firm, the number of jailbroken iPhones out there is fewer than 10%, but as jailbreaking becomes easier and more accepted by regular users, that number will rise.

Few people would argue that Apple should be able to remotely access and disable your device, but the fact remains, jailbroken devices that exist on a huge wireless network pose a huge security threat to Apple, AT&T and users.

The cat and mouse game between jailbreakers and Apple will continue, but will the iPhone 5 be jailbreak-proof?