Meet Jon, Root Exploit Seeker & Creator Of TimePIN

By Rajesh Pandey

If you have been a long-time Android user who is not afraid of jumping into the world of custom ROMs and kernels, you’ve probably come across the work of “jcase.” He has released rooting procedures for a bunch of HTC devices — and more recently, Motorola, too — that work using various exploits in the firmware.

Recently, he released a very unique security app for Android devices — TimePIN — that automatically changes the lockscreen PIN depending on the time.

Today, we sit down for an interview with jcase, a.k.a Justin Case (his name on Twitter), and talk to him about the process of finding exploit-based root procedures, the idea behind TimePIN and the level of security in today’s mobile OSes.

Cult Of Android: Hi Justin! Before we start with the interview, please tell us a bit about yourself — what do you do full-time?.

Jon: Well, my real name is Jon. I’m in my 30s. A father of four kids: 3, 8, 13 and 15. And I have a lovely wife. I work in mobile security full-time, and have for the last few years.

I actually prefer my Android to be as secure as possible, which is one reason I like to advocate the purchase of an unlockable device instead of waiting for the next exploit. I research vulnerabilities, help design fixes and analyze malware as part of my day to day activities.

CoA: How did you gain interest in Android? How did the journey begin for you?

J: I purchased a phone, the Verizon HTC Eris, and was unhappy with the performance impact that the bloatware had. Back on Android 1.5 it was quite bad, especially with HTC. I couldn’t use the phone how I wanted, and no one published a root exploit for it.