iPhone Trojan Sign of Things to Come?

climber writes "Just days after the first scareware for OSX, researchers are pondering the problems of an iPhone exploit that could lead to larger issues. The Trojan pulls legitimate apps off the phone if you try to remove it, but it only infects iPhones that have 'been modified or opened through a security hole in the system.' Though this worm is more of an annoyance than anything else, it could be a proof of concept for a more serious attack. 'The fear is hackers may be experimenting and gathering research that will increase the dangers of a more malicious attack in the near future. It is clear at least one writer -- the author of this piece at Web Worker Daily -- thinks that the iPhone should be left on the dresser in the morning. She offers several reasons that the device isn't a good corporate tool.'"

Curious

[Nom du Keyboard]

Curious how this only affects unlocked iPhones. Just who is that to the benefit of?

Re:What rock was she hiding under?

[arminw]

.....It's a consumer device and was never meant.....

True, but even so, many executives have bought iPhones and ordered their reluctant IT dept. to support them. When the big boss speaks, most underlings do listen and try to please him/her. So, IT folks out there, you might as well figure on supporting the iPhone, even if Apple doesn't market it for corporate users. The big boss may come in sooner than you figure and DEMAND support for his/her shiny new iPhone.

Re:What rock was she hiding under?

[kellyb9]

This is an instance where I have to agree. Apple does a very good job of identifying specific problems and trying to create unique solutions for them. The iPhone was never designed for corporate use, maybe a future version will be, but at this point, it's a pretty stupid idea.

I am by no means Mac user, but I have to admire their creation of the Macbook Air. Here's another example where they said - here's the problem, people traveling - lets create something to make this process easier. This is really one of my major criticisms of MS, who always try to create the one machine that will solve all of our needs. Unfortunantly for Mr. Gates, there is a high overhead in this line of thought.

Re:What rock was she hiding under?

[SatanicPuppy]

Like most of us are in a situation to make things like that compatible with existing systems?

Whenever someone comes to me with that sort of demand, I tell 'em I'll be glad to support it, whenever they buy the software/hardware appliance/developers license/whatever that I'll need to run to support it. And I am happy to do that, because that does fall under the realm of things that I can do, unlike waving the magic compatibility wand and recoding interfaces to support a platform that only just released a real api.

Re:Curious

[2nd Post!]

It isn't funny, at all. By not releasing an SDK for 6 months, Apple had a host of volunteer security testers search for every exploit, overflow, and vulnerability on the device (which they promptly fixed).

And of course, in the course of those six months, there are some people who have NOT patched their system against these vulnerabilities.

Re:What rock was she hiding under?

[Bert64]

To support it? An iphone is a lot less hassle to support from a corporate perspective than other types of device such as blackberry...
It uses standard IMAP, with support for SSL.. Standard SMTP with support for TLS...
It can even VPN, using standard l2tp/ipsec.
You don't need any additional software, assuming you're running systems that support the appropriate standards. Yes, the iphone does have some shortcomings but being a hassle to support is not one of them. It's just a case of people being scared of what they don't know.

Re:So FUD... and a non sequitur

[Firehed]

Sounds about right. This so-called 'worm' is nothing more than a useless file - THAT YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE TO INSTALL - with a bad uninstaller script. It's about as much a worm as typing 'sudo rm -rf /' into the terminal because some stranger on the internet said it's a good idea (for the uninformed, it's a great idea, and definitely try it and give it your root password when prompted)*.

The only known actual exploit on the iPhone is the TIFF exploit that JailBreakMe.com uses for powers of good (which, while jailbreaking the phone, also patches the exploit it used to do so). People that didn't use that hack likely updated to 1.1.2 firmware, which also patches that hole.

No, it's (most irrelevantly) not a corporate blackberry replacement. It's not really perfect at anything, though I'll say that the solitaire game really lends it self fantastically to the touch interface. But unlike most multifunction devices which really half-ass everything, it does most things quite well and the sacrifices made are understandable and more importantly are not deal-breakers.

*Hey, I'm a stranger on the internet. What did you expect, candy?

Re:Curious

[DaggertipX]

That depends, do you consider usability a feature? Or are you yet another slashdot user that thinks that a user interface is no more than "pretty graphics"?

Sorry... I'm a UI designer, and posts like this almost make me froth at the mouth.

Ah, the virus-proof apple.

[caliburngreywolf]

Goes to show, the way to be virus-proof is to capture less than 20% of users (who bothers to ignore the 80% and go for the 20?) If there was a similar, but far more popular device, I'll bet the apple crowd would be happily touting the virus-proof iphone as their competitor sufferred attacks. Bad as Microsoft code is, it's the popularity that makes people attack it, similar to a trapper laying rabbit traps in a field, instead of bear traps. Far more rabbits, even if the bear's a juicier target.

Re:What rock was she hiding under?

[Ash Vince]

For me the lack of a user changeable battery was a show stopper. With every phone I buy I also buy a spare charged battery. That way if one runs out wheil I am out and about I can just swap to a new battery and call whoever I was talking to back straight away. This beats the hell out of trying to find an apple store in a city you may not know and may not have time to piss about in.

I am a die hard Linux user who generally hates Microsoft products, but I could not wait for the Google Phone so I bought a Kaiser instead. Cost me a shitload more than an Iphone would have but is a much better device.

- As montioned above it has a user swappable battery.

- Supports decent encrypted WiFi so I can connect to my home and works networks with no reconfiguration needed.

- It can be used as a 3G modem USB for my laptop when I have no WiFI within range.

- I can run loads more off the shelf apps on it as PocketPC is a much more established platform.

- It has SDK's available now so I develop any new tools I need.

- It has a fold out qwerty keyboard with tactile feedback when a key is pressed.

- It supports MS exchange integration for email, tasks, calendar and notes.

- It doesn't crash anywhere near as much as I was expecting (It IS a microsoft platform after all).

- It supports data encryption on the device so if I lose it the info has cursory protection from prying eyes. (Note cursory, I know you could probably crack it in a day or two)

Like it or not these are key features for a large number of corporate customers with the exception of the keyboard, that was a key factor for me though.

The main plus point of the Iphone seemed to be that it looked pretty.