Apple
Technology
Rick Astley attacks iPhone users
Aha. Another day and another story about the Apple iPhone.
This time it’s the BBC News website that leads with the headline ‘Worm attack bites at Apple iPhone’.
Somewhat alarmed I read further into the article and found that you actually have to have Jailbroken your iPhone for this particular worm to attack.
For those who don’t know and don’t particularly care, Jailbreaking is a process that allows iPhone and iPod touch users to run unofficial code on their devices, bypassing Apple’s official distribution mechanism. It enables the ability to download applications that are not available through the app store and official retailers.
Unfortunately, the side-effect of this is that if it’s not performed correctly it can leave your iPhone vulnerable and open to attack.
In this case the worm concerned doesn’t really do anything unpleasant apart from installing a picture of Rick Astley on your iPhone. I should imagine that some people however, this is enough.
So I guess there is a certain proof of concept in the article as it does show that as our mobile phones get more and more technologically advanced they are also more likely to be victims of hacking and malicious attacks.
At the same time, such scare stories don’t really help the general public, the majority of whom wouldn’t even know what a jail broken iPhone actually is.
To use an analogy, if you bought a brand spanking new BMW then removed the anti-lock brake system so your car would go faster, you wouldn’t be that surprised if you came a cropper the next time you needed to brake suddenly.
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