iPhone users, beware. The popular gadget is vulnerable to attacks by hackers.
Security experts revealed during the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas that they had uncovered certain flaws in Apple’s iPhone which can be exploited by unscrupulous individuals for identity theft and other malicious activities, Reuters’ Jim Finkle reports.
Security experts are now urging Apple to deal with this vulnerability to protect iPhone users.
“It’s scary. I don’t want people taking over my iPhone,” the report quoted security analyst Charlie Miller of consulting firm Independent Security Evaluators as saying.
Miller and Collin Mulliner, a Ph.D student at the Technical University of Berlin, bared at the conference a strategy they had uncovered wherein hackers can sabotage iPhone users’ connection to the carrier network. The phone then becomes virtually useless as the owner will not able to make calls, receive or send text messages, and access the web.
Apple had been warned about such flaws but the company has yet to address the problem, said Miller and Mulliner. Now, after the information was revealed during the Black Hat conference, the two warned that it would take a mere two weeks for criminals to start using this method and launch hacking attacks against iPhones.
Miller and Mulliner demonstrated how this could be done. They sent a malicious computer code to the phone via SMS. The tricky part is that, the user is unaware that the phone has just received the code.
The two had tested this with iPhones running on carrier networks in Germany and also with AT&T in the U.S. They are now convinced that all iPhones all over the world are at risk of getting hacked using this method.
The security experts defended their move to reveal the method to the public, saying that they merely wanted to warn users against such attacks. They also said it would also likely to become eventually known to resourceful hackers.
Apple has yet to issue a statement about this. Miller and Mulliner said the company should take the necessary steps to secure the iPhone; otherwise, the negative publicity could cripple the sales of this much coveted gadget and wipe out the otherwise positive reviews about its cool features.
Black Hat is the global leader in information security events. The recent conference held July 25-30 at the Caesars Palace in Las Vegas had about 4,000 attendees that included both security professionals and hackers. It’s a venue where security experts get to announce the latest software flaws they have uncovered to warn the public and encourage the manufacturer to address them. Unfortunately, hackers also exploit the same flaws to launch attacks.
The revelation about the iPhone’s vulnerability to hackers is hardly new. Last year, security researcher Aviv Raff reported that certain iPhone applications could be used as gateway for phishing attacks. The hacker uses a seemingly legitimate email link which when clicked would lead to a phishing site. iPhone 1.1.4 and 2.0 were said to be the ones vulnerable to this type of assault.