According to 9to5Mac, the craftsmen were able to physically tamper with the design of the device to turn off the speakers on the AirTag tracking tag. They started selling custom tags on eBay and Etsy.
The sellers claimed in the description of their products that the modified gadget, on the contrary, increases security. In their opinion, after a while, such a label will not begin to impersonate the beeping of the built-in speaker until the owner contacts the thief of the device with this label. They clarified that they made modifications to the gadget at the request of buyers who wanted to use them to protect bicycles and other large or important items from theft.
Apple initially made the AirTag beep to indicate its presence some time after losing connection with a paired device. Thus, the user to whom it was thrown could hear and find it. It turned out that this option can be disabled. Some buyers are against such interference with the device and filed complaints at the sites where such devices were exhibited. Most AirTag ads without speakers have now been removed.
Apple is selling AirTag for $30 (3,000 rubles). Aftermarket refurbished tags with speakers disabled start at $77 and are not covered by Apple's warranty. Judging by the photo from the ads, a small hole was cut out on their case in one place under the battery of the device to physically disconnect the speaker from the working circuit.
Apple AirTag tags have recently become frequently used by attackers. In Canada, car thieves used them to pinpoint the location of expensive cars and steal them when the cars were near their owners' homes. They glued these small marks under the bottom or behind the bumper. The owners of the cars were not even aware that they were being monitored.
An AirTag affixed to an item can emit beeps to help you locate it. If an item is lost or left somewhere far away, the Find My feature will connect millions of iPhones, iPads and Macs around the world to the search. AirTag broadcasts a Bluetooth signal that nearby devices with Find My enabled can receive. They'll send the AirTag's location to iCloud, and the item can be found on a map in the Find My app.
The tag includes a U1 broadband (UWB) chip, writable NFC for fast connection, a Bluetooth data transfer module, a speaker for audio output, and a replaceable LiPo battery. The microcontroller in AirTag is a Nordic Semiconductor nRF52832 Bluetooth Low Energy chip, a system on a chip (SoC) with an NFC controller. The principles of AirTag operation and the features of this tag are disclosed in this publication. The element base of AirTag is specified in this article on e.
Dec 14 Apple
bbabo.Net