Notices



ARTICLE: Dutch hacker sends alerts to jailbroken iPhones, freaks out users

Random Community Topics

Post New ThreadReply
 
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 11-06-2009, 05:20 PM
phillynewsnow's Avatar
phillynewsnow phillynewsnow is offline   Thread Starter  
Site Moderator - Staff

 
Join Date: October 11th, 2009
Posts: 4,640
Thanks: 0
Thanked 668 Times in 568 Posts
Downloads: 0
Uploads: 0


View phillynewsnow's Profile   Edit Options Edit Profile Picture View phillynewsnow's Photo Album Add phillynewsnow's to Your Contacts Show Groups Edit Avatar Subscribed Threads Private Messages
ARTICLE: Dutch hacker sends alerts to jailbroken iPhones, freaks out users

Imagine hanging out somewhere, minding your own business, maybe checking email or texts on your iPhone, when suddenly this message pops up on screen:



If you have a pristine, fully sanctioned iPhone, you can breath easy. Those with jailbroken phones may want to pay attention to this, though: A Dutch hacker has figured out how to tunnel into jailbroken iPhones, via SSH, and remotely turn on the message, "Your iPhone's been hacked because it's really insecure! Please visit doiop.com/iHacked and secure your iPhone right now! Right now, I can access all your files."

Understandably, this shocked and unnerved some unsuspecting users in the Netherlands. But was it a random act of helpfulness by some magnanimous stranger? Not exactly. Once on, the alert didn’t go away until the user plunked down €5 via PayPal for instructions on how to remove the hack.

Luckily, the young man wasn’t a thief or data vandal, and no illicitly gotten info was pilfered. He was just a precocious opportunist looking to make some coin — or at least he was. His parents must’ve found out about his shenanigans, because he wound up posting the instructions for free, issuing an apology for this wacky scheme and returning the money. (Kind of like Mom marching you right back into the store to pay for that Snickers bar you pocketed, no?)

But how did he do this to begin with? Sometimes in the jailbreaking process, users forget to change the default root password on their iPhone. All he had to do was find such a handset in range. Scary stuff. Luckily, this guy wasn’t out to do damage. But the next guy might.

So consider this a PSA: If you’re going to break into that phone, don’t leave the backdoor open. Another hacker might follow you in.


Via: Engadget Mobile, TUAW, Ars Technica







Read More From Source
Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to phillynewsnow For This Useful Post:
Post New ThreadReply

Tags
alerts, article, dutch, freaks, hacker, iphones, jailbroken, sends, users

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
[NEWS] New Malware Affects Jailbroken iPhones phillynewsnow Random Community Topics 0 11-12-2009 05:52 PM
[NEWS] Data-stealing Hack Targets Jailbroken iPhones phillynewsnow Random Community Topics 0 11-12-2009 05:52 PM
[NEWS] ARTICLE: Jailbroken iPhones: Blackra1n 101 (plus the fix for the iPhone wor phillynewsnow Random Community Topics 0 11-12-2009 03:40 PM
[NEWS] ARTICLE: Malicious new iPhone worm infects jailbroken phones phillynewsnow Random Community Topics 1 11-11-2009 06:23 PM
[INFO] Dutch hacker seeks out jailbroken iPhones for fame and fortune iamdasht19 Random Community Topics 2 11-04-2009 07:23 PM


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:25 PM.

Layout Options | Width: Fixed
Contact Us - SPJ Bulletin - Archive - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service - Top