Critical Iphone security risk, and how to prevent it.

In the iPhone 2.0.2 firmware, there was a major security flaw that allowed access to private data even with security passcode turned on.

In just two steps anyone can have access to a lot of private data on the phone.

After you slide to unluck the phone, you will be on the enter passcode screen

1. click on 'emergency call'
2. double tap on the home button

Click here and then double tap the home button to access favorites without entering a passcode!

and you'll have full access to your cellphones private information in Mail, SMS, Contacts and safari browser.



from gizmodo:

"Done. You are now in your favorites. This seems like a feature, because you may want to have emergency number in your favorites for quick dial. The security problem here is double. The first: anyone picking up your phone can make a call to anyone in your favorites. On top of that, this also opens access to your full Address Book, the dial keypad, and your voice mail.

If that wasn't bad enough, the second one is even worse: if you tap on the blue arrows next to the names, it will give you full access to the private information in a favorite entry. And it goes downhill from there:

• If you click in a mail address, it will give you full access to the Mail application. All your mail will be exposed.
• If there's a URL in your contact (or in a mail message) you can click on it and have full access to Safari.
• If you click on send text message in a contact, it will give you full access to all your SMS."

Here is an article on Gizmodo as well as a video demo.

They have also provided a solution by changing the function of your home button so that when you double tap it, it will perform a different task.


1. In the iPhone home, go to Settings.
2. Click on General.
3. Click on Home Button.
4. Click on either "Home" or "iPod".

This is what you should see
Change the function of the home button to prevent this risk!

It has been reported that apple will fix this security flaw in their next firmware update, but there has been no announecment to when that will be. For now just use this simple solution, i hope it helps!

Zinio - Free Magazines online viewing for your iPhone & iTouch!

Zinio Labs is a digital publishing company that offers digital magazine subscriptions on desktop PCs (for a fee) but when you stumble upon it on using the safari browser on you iPhone, you'd find out that you can view all their magazine content online for free! As of this writing, there are 20 magazines available for viewing which are all popular titles including:

• PC Magazine
• Playboy
• Penthouse
• Men's Health Magazine
• Popular Photography
• Popular Mechanics
• Car and Driver
• Elle
• Macworld (for obvious reasons)
• Reader's Digest

Again these titles are FREE for viewing on your iPhone. We don't really know for how long so for now enjoy browsing these magazines to your heart's content. (before they take it down)

Personally, The great thing about this whole thing is that it's free. But here are the good and bad points of this site.


Good:

-The whole magazine is available for viewing, page-by-page
-No login or access required whatsoever
-Has a table of contents, where you can skip to the article of your choice
-Good resolution for pages, optimized for the iPhone

Bad:

-Can't skip to the page of your choice
-Slow loading, since each time you click a page it loads all over again
-The free stuff can only be accessed thru your iPhone, on the PC you need to subscribe


Final notes:

Free magazines overshadow the fact that you have to wait a while to view it page-by-page, but it's still a great find and a good way to pass some time on a coffee shop. Having the coply of the real magazines are of course better, but that's why we pay for them.

Access it through your iPhone with this link:
http://imgs.zino.com/iphone
http://www.zino.com/iphone

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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