Security researchers have found a new tool targeting users of jailbroken iPhones.
On the heels of the discovery of a worm targeting jailbroken iPhones in Australia, security researchers at Intego now say they have detected a program known as iPhone/Privacy.A that hackers can use to swipe personal data.
The program does not get installed on the iPhone, but instead is a tool
a hacker can install on any computer running Mac OS X, Windows, Linux
or Unix. An attacker can use it to scan a wireless network for
jailbroken iPhones and then exploit the same default SSH password issue leveraged by the ikee worm.
“When connecting to a jailbroken iPhone, this tool allows a hacker to
silently copy a treasure trove of user data from a compromised iPhone:
e-mail, contacts, SMSs, calendars, photos, music files, videos, as well
as any data recorded by any iPhone app,” according to the Intego
advisory. “Unlike the ikee worm, which signals its presence by changing
the iPhone's wallpaper, this hacker tool gives no indication that it
has invaded an iPhone.”
Unlike the ikee
worm, which announced itself by changing the wallpaper once it was
installed, this new tool does nothing to indicate to the iPhone user
that their device has been compromised, Intego warns.
“While it is not
possible to protect the iPhone from this hacker tool - it does not
install anything on an iPhone – VirusBarrier X5 can ensure that Macs,
especially in businesses, are protected from this hacker tool being
installed,” according to Intego. “We would like to stress that users
who jailbreak their iPhones are exposing themselves to known
vulnerabilities that are being exploited by code that is circulating in
the wild.”
However, the
easy solution to this for those who want to jailbreak their iPhones is
to change their root password. Instructions on how to do that can be found here.
“The advice is loud
and clear: if you jailbreak your iPhone, don't leave the default root
password as "alpine" or you're asking for trouble," Graham Clulely,
senior technology consultant at Sophos, told eWEEK.
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