Interview with China Hacker Loktar_Sun who Unlocked iPhones via SAM Method

The SAM iPhone unlock method is dubbed as one of the best unlocking methods since ultrasn0w for iPhone 4 baseband 1.59.00 because it doesn’t require any hardware e.g. Gevey SIM. I managed to get hold of Loktar_Sun for an exclusive online interview.

He first published his unlocking steps on China’s biggest iDevice forum weiphone.com on April 21st, 2012 (screenshot above). After a few hours, the steps were proven to be working and it was spreading worldwide like wildfire. By the next day, tech blogs all around the world began blogging about this method and everyone was delighted that it worked like a charm.
There was no new tool developed for this unlocked, instead he used Sam Bingner‘s SAM (Subscriber Artificial Module) Preferences, manipulated it using iTunes – and voila! an unlock for all baseband on any iOS version!
Many questioned why seasoned hackers such as @MuscleNerd did not think of this method before? The conspiracy theory is that he knew about this method but didn’t reveal it to the public for whatever reason?
Without further ado, here are the top questions we picked and presented to Loktar_Sun:
Q: How much time did you spend developing this method?
Previously I used SAM to fix push typical notifications issues, that’s when I noticed that there seems to be a vulnerability with the iPhone’s ICCID.
Many people thought it was me who discovered this exploit, but actually it’s not. This exploit has been around for quite a while now but nobody would have thought Apple would (carelessly) come up with an exploit like this. When I found out the potential use of this exploit, I spent one whole afternoon to develop the steps.
If I didn’t come up with this method that day, I believe sooner or later someone would have done the same thing. There are other people who are smarter than me.
Q: Is this unlock permanent?

At this point it’s a permanent unlock tied to a SIM card. This method basically tricks Apple’s activation loophole and it’s not the same as Apple’s official factory unlock/activation. The iPhone is still considered locked in real sense.
Q: Can this method be added as a source in Cydia?   
I’ve never written or developed any iOS apps before, but I know China based hackers called ChinaSnow has started writing a program and will make it available very soon. Their Cydia source is ultra.chinasnow.net.
Q: Is it true that Applenberry is using the same method to unlock baseband 4.11.08 and 4.12.01 with their newly released Gevey SIM?
This I’m not too sure. If they’re using the same exploit, once this is patched (by Apple), Gevey Ultra will be rendered useless. I’m hoping that they’ve already found a bug with the baseband so that if Apple patches the ICCID exploit, everyone can still continue using the SIM interposers.

Q: How do you feel to be an overnight internet stardom?
It’s very exciting,  I did not expect so many people, especially foreign friends who acknowledged my work. I hope that the I can make a better contribution to the iPhone unlock and jailbreak community in the future.
Last but not least, there are people pretending to be me on Twitter, it’s very flattering but I would like to clarify that I don’t have a Twitter account.
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We would like to thank Loktar_Sun for his time and effort for this interview and helping millions out there to unlock their iPhones for free. If you intend to donate, kindly email us and we will notify you his PayPal address.
Loktar_Sun is a humble, 24-year old smart card software/hardware developer currently working and living in Beijing, China who just joined the workforce not too long ago.