iPhone Virus Outbreak in the Future ‘Likely’
November 14, 2007 by Patrick
With all of the hacking going on, for third party apps or other miscellaneous usage, you have to wonder what’s going on beneath the UI.
Installing third party apps and modifying the UI can easily allow hackers to install malware or viruses through the installation, though luckily not many have reported such problems (probably because they don’t know they have any).
Mr. Runald, Security Response Manager for F-Secure Security Labs, says that “It’s 80-90% likely that we will see malware targetting the iPhone”
“The fact that iPhone fans can so quickly crack Apple updates which are supposed to re-assert Apple’s control over the device should be warning enough” he continues. This makes perfect sense, how and why is Apple’s firmware getting cracked so easily?
The last two firmware updates, v1.1.1 and v1.1.2 were both cracked very quickly, within days (or even HOURS) of release.
“What they’re doing is they’re breaking out of the iPhone’s secure mode, (which) is that you’re not allowed to venture outside of the UI” Mr. Runald goes on.
“…So to unlock the phone they’re breaking the shield to install an unlocking application to take away the SIM lock. And once you’re out of the shield, you can do anything.”
The general concensus is that we’ll see something happen by, or before, the release of the SDK for Safari in February. Though, when that happens, people can also develop anti-virus and spyware hunting software, as well.
Thanks: APC Magazine
Related posts:
- Is iPhone Security Lacking Severely?
- iPhone firmware v2.1 fixes serious security issues
- Video of unlocking iPhone 2.0 firmware
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