Security researcher Charlie Miller says the iPhone could be hacked remotely, by SMS text. Apple says it is preparing a fix. But are the sharks already circling?
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Security analyst says he could hack into your iPhone – via SMS text
By Matthew Shaer | 07.02.09
It was bad enough that your iPhone might suddenly catch a wicked sunburn.
Now a prominent security analyst is raising concerns that the touch-screen phone could be hacked via text message. Speaking at the SyScan conference in Singapore today, Charlie Miller said a coding loophole made it possible for attackers to remotely install and run unsigned software on the iPhone. Apple says it is aware of the problem, according to Network World, and aims to have a fix in place soon.
Miller, the co-author of “The Mac Hacker’s Handbook,” said a hacker might conceivably be able to take control of a user’s GPS, turn on the iPhone’s microphone, or shut off service altogether.
And then there’s the doomsday scenario: an attacker pieces together an army of zombie phones, linked in a malicious bot net.
Speaking to the Register, Dino Dai Zovi, who wrote “The Mac Hacker’s Handbook” with Miller, said, “My reaction was that this has the potential to be a very serious vulnerability and likely the worst that has affected the iPhone to date. I was very surprised that he had a vulnerability that was triggerable with just an SMS message.”
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1. woffles wu | 07.03.09
!! I think I’ll hold off buying an Iphone until this is fixed.