iOS is the second most popular mobile operating system worldwide. After developing your iOS apps you’ll often need to security check them both for known and unknown security vulnerabilities.
In this post, we are going to look at the Top most popular iOS pentesting tools for iOS apps. However, iOS Penetration Testing tools are not as numerous as those of Android since the iOS tight security rules do not allow these apps to be published in the App Store. So you’ll have to ‘jailbreak’ your iPhone before you can install these iPhone hacking apps and tools. You’ll download and install them from an alternative repo called Cydia. Lastly, Keep that in mind that Jailbreaking your iPhone voids your device’s warranty and is a potential safety risk that might lead to loss of data on your iPhone.
Penetration Testing mobile applications should be a critical part of your overall security strategy. To help you facilitate this process, here are Top Mobile Application Penetration Testing Tools for iOS app:
Cydia is a GUI tool that is used by iOS pentesters when working with Apple mobile devices. It is particularly used for installing an iOS application on an iPhone when you have its IPA file. This is especially important when you want to install an iOS pentesting app or tool that is not available on the official Apple App Store. For example, if you have a Jailbreak IPA, you’ll use Cydia Impactor to install Jailbreak exploit IPA on your iOS device.
2. iRET
This is probably one of the best known pieces of software in iOS penetration testing circles, and with good reason. As any person with a repetitive job will tell you, automation and shortcuts are must-have features to make work more efficient and tolerable. iRET is an application that adds exactly this kind of feature set, providing convenience and user efficiency. Penetration testing can be a repetitive activity, as each security vulnerability is patched and removed, the same tests must be run again and again.
3. Burp Suite
Burp Suite is a penetration testing tool that intercepts traffic on your network. This is useful if you need to inspect traffic flows and can offer insights into application and website operation. This is achieved in large part by the application’s proxy tool. This allows you to use your browser to navigate through the application, meaning your phone can host the session and then your network traffic can be directed through it. It has a lot more functionalities than this, and it’s a tool you must try if your really want to dig into iOS security testing.
4. Myriam iOS
Myriam is a reverse engineering training tool developed by an iOS developer who wanted to make iOS application reverse engineering and creation more accessible to beginners. This application provides a list of basic tasks that must be accomplished by the user. These range from tasks such as changing the logo within the app, all the way to data manipulation within the program. Those interested in learning more can look at this Youtube playlist from the app’s creator, FCE365. Myriam is just one of several avenues by which you can learn the science of Apple iOS application reverse engineering and creation.
5. iWep Pro
iWep Pro is a wireless suite of useful applications used to turn your iOS device into a wireless network diagnostic tool. This app quickly lets you know if any of your connected wireless devices are vulnerable to security glitches, and can even reveal what the surrounding Wi-Fi network passwords are in your current location. Using this application can help you to lock down your Wi-Fi network, and can help you to secure any flaws within your Wi-Fi network’s setup. You are also able to share Wi-Fi keys securely with friends, allowing you to give people information about public networks that you have previously visited.
6. Cycript
Cycript is a useful application that allows developers to look at and interact with applications running on iOS. It does this through Objective-C++ and JavaScript syntax, and it has an interactive console that is command-line based. Like any good command line tool, it features tab completion and syntax highlighting, giving it a functional and desktop-like feel.
7. Paraben DS
Paraben Device Seizure is a popular iOS pentest tool that is often used by forensic investigators for examining iOS devices. In order to use this iOS security testing tool, you first need to install it on your computer, launch its GUI and then connect your iPhone. It offers a myriad of iPhone pentesting functionalities including data acquisition, logical and physical imaging, password bypass, data carving among others. Even though it’s a paid tool, it’s a must try if you are serious about a career in iOS security testing.
8. iNalyzer
AppSec Labs iNalyzer is an iOS pentesting tool that is used for manipulating iOS applications, tampering with parameters and methods.
It automates your iOS testing tasks by exposing the internal logic of your target iOS application, and the correlation between hidden functionalities.
iNalyzer is the best iOS pen testing tool available that will ensure no more brute force, fuzzing, SQL injection and any other tedious manual iOS pen testing tasks.
netKillUIbeta is a top rated iOS pentesting tool with wifi cracking utilities. It is designed particularly to stop apps that you aren’t using from using the network bandwidth in the background You can install it together with all its dependencies from the Cydia app repository. Using this iOS pentest app on a public network is not anonymous, though, and your MAC address can be traced back to you.
10. Frida
Frida is another great iOS penetration testing tool common among iPhone security testers. It’s used by iPhone hackers to inject JavaScript V8 engine into iOS process runtime. Another great feature of this iOS security testing tool is that it supports two modes of operations where it lets you work with or without jailbreak. However, you’ll find it easier to use Frida with jailbreak because it’ll let you take control of system services and apps with much more ease.
11. iSpy
iSpy is another often used iOS penetration testing tool for iPhone app reverse engineering. It’s often used by iOS pentesters for dynamic analysis of iOS applications. It also has a very easy to use GUI that can be used for class dumps, instance tracking, jailbreak detection bypass, SSL certificate pinning bypass… among others. This iOS reverse engineering tool is open source and freely available on GitHub.
Conclusion
There are many different applications available for iOS users looking into hacking and penetration testing. Like I already mentioned, Apple does not approve of these iOS pentesting tools because it doesn’t fall inline with their security policies. Since you’ll be installing these iPhone hacking apps from a third party repository, it is good to always exercise caution. Besides, since jailbreaking your iPhone in order to install these apps voids your device warranty, I suggest you backup your data before you proceed to avoid any serious data loss. These iPhone penetration testing tools are, however, great for reverse engineering your iOS apps and iOS pentesting. Lastly, while some of these iPhone hacking tools can be used for diagnostic purposes, some are potentially dangerous — so handle with care.
