11-yr old creates the first iPhone virus

The First iPhone virus has been found (a trojan), and it turns out it was made by an 11-year old who was playing around with XML files. This was something that people have been waiting to happen and it did. What most people fear is not this, but the upcoming other viruses that will be made by more skillful people who will have intentions to harm your iPhone.

The iPhones that were vulnerable to this was the "unlocked" iPhones which allow third-party applications to be installed, this shows that deciding to modify your iPhone is a double edged sword that could open up more possibilities as well as more vulnerabilities.







quoted from: macworld , which confirmed the virus along with F-secure
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The first Trojan for the iPhone has been discovered. The first reports came from iPhone enthusiast site Modmyifone.com and were later confirmed by security research company F-Secure.

The virus does not currently pose a huge risk, the Trojan specifically targets users that have modified their iPhone so they can install third-party applications. The application masks itself as an update to Erica's Utilities and is labeled as "113 prep."

According to Modmyifone.com all the app does is say "shoes." However, when uninstalled, the application removes files from the /bin directory on the iPhone, breaking valid apps like Sendfile and Erica's Utilities.

The site hosting the application was taken offline soon after it was discovered, reports F-Secure.

"Hopefully this serves as a warning for those who have opened their iPhones using a security hole in the system and then installing unverified software without a second thought to what they are doing," said F-Secure on its site.

F-Secure reported that it was an 11-year-old kid playing with XML files who created the Trojan. "Next time it might be someone else with more skills and with specific target," they said.
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