The identity of the Australian hacker who had 'rickrolled' jailbroken iPhones with the 'iKee' virus is now revealed. It is 21 year old Ashley Towns from Wollongong, Australia.
Ashley, who is a student at TAFE, says he had created the virus merely as a prank and to make people aware of security holes.
Speaking to ABC News, Ashley said,
"When people jailbreak their phone, it allows them to install a service on their phone called SSH. 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"
With this, the iPhone platform has seen its first virus attack and while there has not been anymalicious intent in this particular case, it surely has put the issue of security to the fore. With the apparent ease with which the 'iKee' virus spread, we can expect a lot of black hat hackers to sit up and take notice of other similar security flaws that may be exploited.
While the iKee virus only compromised jailbroken iPhones, it still has the potential to undermine Apple's stand on security. It was recently revealed that Apple was on the lookout for an 'iPhone OS platform security manager'. The yet-to-be-appointed security manager already have their task cut out to find ways to prevent iPhones from getting jailbroken.
However, jailbroken iPhones is not the only area Apple has to be worried about. We had recently reported of Apple approved iPhone apps that harvested user cellphone numbers which, though not an explicit security threat, still compromise the privacy of the user. And for Apple to assure customers that their handsets are secure enough, this is one another area they must be looking into.
How do you rate the security of the iPhone platform? Do you think more attacks are possible? Please tell us in the comments.
[via ABC News]
Ashley is a guy?? lmao
i would not even consider getting an iphone anymore if it can no longer be jailbroken.
Not that I am using pirated software (mine has been jailbroken for over a year and i do not have one single stolen app running on it), but without things like backgrounder, offline map, cycorder, voipover3g, etc etc etc, the iphone would no longer be a fun device.
nope, jasilbraking is fun.
i jailbreak my iphone once a day cos its fun lol
Are you really that bored
lol apparently
ill still jailbreak
And what country do you live in that that sounds strange to you?
wow get a life
the Apple mentality is that People shouldn't have to think when they use their devices. This is how it works, and this is how it is. Period. The jailbreaking mentality is all about…having the device do what you tell it to, and not having the device dictate to you. Open development is huge…because if something has a great enough demand…someone is going to implement it or create an app for it. In the apple realm…it's scrutinized…is this going to under mine our (Apple's) policy?
Theres no wrong answer…someone people just aren't knowledgable enough not to have the guidance and rules that apple is very good at providing. Some people are paralized when provided too many choices. In the respect…Apple does it's role very well.
So the question I'd like to ask….Is apple going to cater to both groups of people? They have this device that crosses a great divide from tech savvy folks, to folks who need alot of tech guidance. Can they please everyone? It's easy to take an extreme look at it and say "hey…Droid can do everything Apple can't". Well…Apple "can't" for a reason.
every time i try and run the app it opens to a black screen and the keyboard like it's just about to open the terminal then it just shuts down and brings me back to the springboard. is there helper app or package i need to install?.
So, how do you change the password to prevent this?
I prefer to completely uninstall SSH, already happy with i-FunBox through USB cable
can u point me to a website to get step by step directions on how to jailbreak my 3gs??? i have never owned or jailbroken an iphone before…an email would be much appreciated. mustafaazma@gmail.com…thank you very muuuuuch
^*down*=up_*?*
I whant to be a hacker who can help me?
Y'all must be a sleep
no
There needs to be a hack that can jailbrake and unlock, thearting with just one app is there one out there
?
hey my copy and paste don't work I get the buttons but when I click on the past button it don't paste nouthing can you help me hope some will help me this time iv never got an answer bake from y'all but it don't hurt to ask dose it thanks
i put my iPhone in my pussy
I just posted a comment. What are you gonna
do about it? Huh??
lmfao!!!!!!!