It seems like everybody has heard about the new iPhone virus by now. But is it real? Yes. It sure is. Charlie Miller, principal analyst at Independent Security Evaluators, developed the virus to expose the risks to Apple. This leads us to wonder that if Charlie did it, when will a bad guy pop out of the cyberbushes with a more malignant version of the virus? And when this happens (as it inevitably will), how can you protect yourself?
Charlie found that if there is a malformed SMS message (text message), then the iPhone will become confused. In this state of confusion, the iPhone will process the data inside the message differently, thus causing the phone and the data within it to become vulnerable to remote hijackings. Once hijacked, it is possible that the hijacker could watch you input your email passwords or worse, your banking information. And with complete control over your phone, this remote hijacker could potentially access all data within.
If a bad guy were to write such code or something similar, millions of iPhones would be at risk (this also includes Android phones and those operating with Windows Mobile too). This gaping hole in the armor could use the remote command to install malware on the iPhone, which could theoretically turn your camera on and start recording sound. Imagine all the ways a remote hijacker could use that tool. Pretty frightening stuff.
What are iPhone users supposed to do? Right now there is not much they can do except encourage the manufacturer to fix the issue. But in the long run, due to the exponential growth of iPhones and other smartphones and their extraordinary capabilities, the threat to the information held within them will only increase. The best thing to do is protect your device. Keep up with potential threats and make sure you have taken all possible precautions in protecting your iPhone. Hopefully this iPhone virus buzz will turn out to be nothing serious. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be proactive.
