Switchfast Blog - The Future of IT

Beware: Dangerous iPhone Worm

Monday, November 23, 2009 by Michael Holley

Sophos has reported the discovery of a potentially very dangerous worm currently spreading on iPhone and iPod Touch devices worldwide. Thus far, the bug has only been found to affect jailbroken devices, so if you haven't modified your device from its factory specifications, you should be safe.

The worm exhibits behavior remarkably similar to common PC worms, modifying startup scripts to bypass security blocks and self-replicating via WiFi or 3G access points. This bug is a data miner that will steal your information.

One possible sign of infection is dramatically decreased battery life when connected to a WiFi network, as the bug is generating massive amounts of network activity in the background. At this time, the only available method of removing or preventing the bug is to revert to Apple's latest version of firmware (i.e. do NOT operate a jailbroken device).

For more information, see Sophos' original post here.

Best,

Switchfast Technologies
Chicago IT Consulting & Support
Rochester IT Consulting & Support

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