New iPhone Worm is Very Malicious

Jailbroken iPhone users with SSH and a default password are the target

The iPhone is one of the most popular smartphones on the market. By most accounts, the iPhone is the most likely of all smartphones to be used on the internet to access files on the go. There are also a growing number of iPhone users who are jailbreaking the devices to use unauthorized Apple software or to use the devices on other carrier networks.

Over the last few weeks, a worm targeted specifically at iPhones which are jailbroken and have SSH installed with the default password was found. The original worm was nothing more than an irritation and would change the background image of the iPhone to a picture of washed up pop star Rick Astley. Embarrassing for sure, but hardly what most would consider malicious.

A similar worm targeting jailbroken iPhones with SSH and the default password -- alpine -- is making its rounds in the Netherlands. The new worm is different from the first in that the latest is clearly malicious and has a financial motive behind it for the worm maker. BBC News reports that security firm F-Secure discovered the worm and that it targets users of Dutch online bank ING. The worm infects the iPhone and redirects the user to a fake login page.

Mikko Hypponen from F-Secure told BBC News, "It's the second iPhone worm ever and the first that's clearly malicious - there's a clear financial motive behind it."

[via Daily Tech]

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