Hackers "jailbreak" iOS of the new Apple TV

Members of a hacker group have managed to jailbreak the latest release of the Apple TV. A post on the iPhone Dev Team Blog reported that members were able to crack the customized iOS firmware shortly after its release last Monday on an Apple download site. The release came the same day Apple began shipping the $99 device.

The fact confirms earlier speculations that Apple TVs run iOS. iPhone Dev Team members ran it through an in-development iOS 4.1 hacking tool they developed called SHAtter. They quickly extracted the cryptographic key used to lock down the Apple TV firmware, which is the first step in finding a reliable jailbreak.

It's unclear exactly what could be done with a jailbroken Apple TV. Compared with other iDevices, it has a paltry amount of storage space. And, of course, there's still the prospect that Apple will make last-minute changes to Apple TVs that patch the vulnerability SHatter exploits.