Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: iPhone, Virus, Rick, Roll, Astley | Themes: Software, Smartphones
The first known iPhone virus Rick rolls handsets.
It was bound to happen sooner or later. It would be foolish to think that with so many computer hackers and attackers in the world, the iPhone crowd would be spared. Fortunately for iPhoners, the first worm in Apple's golden apple isn't exactly malicious. Well, that probably depends on your definition of the word 'malicious,' but it's definitely not as bad as it could be, or as bad as smartphone viruses could be in the future.
Sure, designing a worm that will change the iPhone's wallpaper to a picture of Rick Astley is irritating for the user. However it seems it wasn't the developer's intent to do something malicious. The worm does nothing but change your screensaver and it only affects jailbroken iPhones -- and only if the user failed to change his or her default password for a secure shell (SSH) application that allows file transfers between smart phones.
A 21-year-old Australian hacker named Ashley Towns has since admitted to developing the worm. In the source code for the virus he writes, "People are stupid, and this is to prove it so" adding that iPhone users should read their manuals. "It's not that hard, guys," Towns writes. "But hey who cares its only your bank details at stake."
Towns spoke to ABC News Online and said that his aim was to wake people up and raise awareness, not to cause trouble.
"When people jailbreak their phone, it allows them to install a service on their phone called SSH," he told ABC. "Generally you should always change your password after setting up on the iPhone as all iPhones use the same password. This virus pretty much exploits people's laziness to change their password," the student continued, adding, "I think to raise awareness for one, somebody with more malicious intent could have done anything - read your SMSs, go through your emails, view your contacts, photos - anything. The virus itself is not malicious and is not out to hurt people. It's just poking fun and hoping waking people up a little."
Towns said the virus is relatively easy to remove. All users have to do is change the phone's password and delete a few files from the phone. You can check out the source code here.
-
Previous News Article
GameStop: MW2 Release Was... -
Next News Article
Modern Warfare 2 for PC Locked...
Rickrolled by tomshardware
I hate you guys, I hasn't seen a video of RR for years till now.
The next iPhone virus?
Your default ringtone becomes "Chocolate Rain"...
source code lol I've been rick rolled by TH, OMG
It's not a virus! It's an Apple update!!! Ahhhhh
should've made it so when it sync'd back up with a mac it would've infected that too, just to show all those mac-zombies that believe their impervious to the real world what happens when all your tech equipment is made by the same company with the same code architecture runnin the show, a hole in one is a hole in all!
Rickrolled by tomshardware I hate you guys, I hasn't seen a video of RR for years till now.
source code lol I've been rick rolled by TH, OMG
The things I do to keep myself entertained on a Monday morning.
Jane, Jane, Jane...
Jaaane... Jaane JAAAAAANE!
YOU NAUGHTY LITTLE RICKROLLIN' GIRL YOU!
Anarchaic Altruism? Awesome.
Oh well, totally ethical
. People need to more aware about security concerns..
The horror!!!
At least link to the original!
should've made it so when it sync'd back up with a mac it would've infected that too, just to show all those mac-zombies that believe their impervious to the real world what happens when all your tech equipment is made by the same company with the same code architecture runnin the show, a hole in one is a hole in all!
I don't know if that is a possible attack vector, but I'd be surprised...
Anyway, this isn't an "Apple" vulnerability. It only affects those who have
1) Jailbroken their iPhone to remove Apple's security provisions
2) Installed SSH to allow remote access
3) Failed to change the default passwords, against the advice of the jailbreaking community.
In other words, the people that want their iPhone to be more like Windows are installing their own security holes...
should've made it so when it sync'd back up with a mac it would've infected that too, just to show all those mac-zombies that believe their impervious to the real world what happens when all your tech equipment is made by the same company with the same code architecture runnin the show, a hole in one is a hole in all!
This would be all well and good, however it infects only jail-broken phones and therefore is only an issue for people who have subverted all the securities put in place by Apple. Claiming that this is an OS X or Apple problem is ridiculous at best.
ha ha the power of reading comments before clicking links, no rickroll for me!! good try though
So is Ashley Towns going to get arrested for this?
as soon as one app enables the crippled iPhone to do something else than just make phone calls or run stupid AppStore apps it gets the blame... instead of the stupid user who neglected to change an elementary thing as a password... it's like leaving your wireless wide open and then complaining about your computer being hacked...
And give me a break about the Apple systems being so secure; the only way to make the iPhone more secure was to cripple it all around. Hell, if I unplug my broadband modem I am un-hackable, too!
"In other words, the people that want their iPhone to be more like Windows are installing their own security holes... "
see above; I will always prefer a fully functional system that I can secure and customize the way I want versus one that has been "proofed" for me by crippling manufacturer... All my phones have been unlocked and modded so far and never had an issue with them, I just enjoyed their full functionality.
I thought apple was immune to all viruses? Up yours apple! More users = more viruses so quit your BSing.
Ha ha, awesome
They really did get Rick Rolled, lol
This guy deserves a hero tag on Fark for this one... but they'll probably press charges against the guy. At least he found a nice and innocent way to let people know "hey, if you are smart enough to jailbreak your phone, why aren't you smart enough to change your password?"
Like he said - its only your bank data that might be at stake...
I thought apple was immune to all viruses? Up yours apple! More users = more viruses so quit your BSing.
This.
Also, remember to check where links go before you click on them. (I avoided the Rick Roll
I don't know if that is a possible attack vector, but I'd be surprised...Anyway, this isn't an "Apple" vulnerability. It only affects those who have1) Jailbroken their iPhone to remove Apple's security provisions2) Installed SSH to allow remote access3) Failed to change the default passwords, against the advice of the jailbreaking community.In other words, the people that want their iPhone to be more like Windows are installing their own security holes...
You mean "more like Unix" right? Since, that's what the SSH is a native component of, also what Mac OSX is built from.
It's doing nothing to make it more like Windows. Making it more like Windows would be .. well, installing an NT Kernel.
and who said that using an iphone was boring? haha.
so ... lemme get this right ... you install a network app on a jailbroken iphone, forget to change the password of the network app and ATowns from Australia will change your screensaver to a pic of Rick Astley? and the fix is ... changing the for the network app on the jailbroken iphone? cmon guys. quite a stretch calling this a virus.
its not hacking when u already use the defalt passowrd faggot not that hard to make a source code either
Yay, l33t skillz was able to transform the iphone into a jaibroken phone, now i can do anything i want with it and install l33t software from the torrent web.
Oh nOES! somebody out there with more l33t skills than me has installed a trojan on my jailbroken iphone! FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU
This would be all well and good, however it infects only jail-broken phones and therefore is only an issue for people who have subverted all the securities put in place by Apple. Claiming that this is an OS X or Apple problem is ridiculous at best.
Understood but even jail-broken Iphones run off their core kernel which is unix based. A jail-broken phone is nothing but the core with the restictions removed (most of the time). Once the malware or whatever is coded to run native on the hardware it's only a matter of time before said restrictions on non tampered phones becomes little more than an inconvinience to said malicious programmers.
Jane, Jane, Jane...Jaaane... Jaane JAAAAAANE! YOU NAUGHTY LITTLE RICKROLLIN' GIRL YOU!
Surprised anyone clicked at all.
Haha, funny
....Claiming that this is an OS X or Apple problem is ridiculous at best.
Apple users claim that about Windows computers all of the time. The biggest weakness in Windows is it's users being oblivious. This is true of the Mac as well. Those who believe they are impervious are most likely to harm themselves.
Apple users claim that about Windows computers all of the time. The biggest weakness in Windows is it's users being oblivious. This is true of the Mac as well. Those who believe they are impervious are most likely to harm themselves.
+1 Well informed PC users (Windows or otherwise) know how and what to secure on their PCs. Being laid back and thinking of your invincibility has brought down some of the greatest generals, how much more of an average computer user.
I got this virus last saturday night!! (Victoria, Australia) OPTUS NETWORK
I was at a club and i was drunk and i didnt know WAT the F$K was going on lol
When i found out i thought it was sooo funnyy!!
It destroy my wifi though...i had to restore my phone to be able to see wifi networks after this happaned to me....