| Alarm raised over fake iPhone 1.1.3 update |
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| Written by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Tuesday, 08 January 2008 | |
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Page 1 of 2 The news that malicious iPhone software is now in the wild could well play into Jobs’ hands, scaring some users into keeping their iPhones as Jobs intended, locked to a particular mobile phone partner and only able to run web apps, and soon, officially third party apps. However the new iPhone malware doesn’t target users who’ve followed Apple’s official rules – it expressly targets those users who have jailbroken their phones to allow the installation of non-approved third party software, some of whom could easily be fooled by the sudden appearance of an iPhone 1.1.3 ‘prep tool’. Symantec posted details of the new iPhone Trojan on their enterprise security blog. Their article states that the package is called the ‘iPhone firmware 1.1.3 prep’, and comes with the description: “An important system update. Install this before updating to the new 1.1.3 firmware.” Symantec’s blog entry said that the software didn’t seem to do much when installed, but uninstalling the prep tool had unforeseen effects. The software apparently uses Erica’s iPhone Utilities and OpenSSH, and once uninstalled, deleted both those programs, requiring re-installation afterwards to restore functionality to both programs. Symantec’s blog says that: “This is technically the first Trojan horse seen for the iPhone, however it does appear to be more of a prank than an actual threat. The impact of uninstalling the "Trojan" would appear to be an unintended side effect. The risk to users is minimal as they would have to choose to install the bogus package and the site which was hosting it has now been taken offline. Nevertheless, iPhone users should exercise caution regarding the packages they choose to install on their phones”. So, what other danger scenarios have evolved with the iPhone? Late last year, Fast Company magazine showed the danger the iPhone and other brands of smartphones pose to one's privacy - if they've been hacked! Please read onto page 2 for the conclusion... |
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