Nov 09 2009

Jailbroken iPhones fall victim to hackers

Posted by Ade as Apple, Cellphones, News, Security

I know, people are demanding that they get to use their phones the way they want to, and jailbreaking is a way to free your phone from the shackles of Apple’s tyranny. But jailbreaking opens up your phone to security risks and now, we have two separate incidents of iPhones being hacked.

jailbrokeniphoneattackmessager

First off, we have the Dutch hacker who held iPhones (that left SSH running) for ransom. The message read, “Your iPhone’s been hacked because it’s really insecure! Please visit doiop.com/iHacked and secure your iPhone right now! Right now, I can access all your files.”

Visiting the URL directs the user to send €5 to a PayPal account, after which the hacker will e-mail instructions to remove the hack. Apparently he had a change of heart and returned the money he gained from his stunt.

And then, we have Ashley Towns, a 21-year-old from Wollongong, south of Sydney, who was able to install a worm into unsuspecting users’ handsets. The worm changes your iPhone’s wallpaper to a picture of Rick Astley. Yes, even though Rickrolling is old, this guy decides to rickroll the heck out of iPhone users. The virus relied on the iPhone user leaving a default password unchanged after installing the software that allows them to run third-party apps. Anyway, he claims it is a harmless prank, but it still highlights the need to make sure your iPhone is secure after jailbreaking. Who knows what malicious hacker would come and steal all the personal files stored in your phone next time.

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