"Worm" Helps ID "Unaware" iPhone Jailbreakers

[FanIn80]

The source code is littered with comments from the author suggesting the worm has been written as an experiment. One of the comments berates affected users for not following instructions when installing SSH, because if they had changed the default password the worm would not have been able to infect them.

http://www.macrumors.com/2009/11/09/...-in-australia/

The fact that people are calling this "the first iPhone worm" is laughable at best. I realize it is a worm, but this isn't exactly hardcore stuff. This is like me sitting outside your house with my laptop and connecting to your unsecured wireless router, then using the default d-link password to mess with your admin settings... and then running around on the internet calling myself a hacker. I'm getting an even bigger kick out of the more sensational media outlets who are accidentally leaving the word "jailbroken" out of their stories.

If people are going to mess around with the security of their iPhones just for the sake of installing some unapproved apps with even more security issues and/or the ability to change thier icons and font colours... they should at least follow the very first step in the instructions and change their phone's default root-level password.


Edit: You'll have to click the link above in order to see the worm's intended payload. Let's just say it's far too unbearable to repeat here.

[Flaming Choy]

The last I read, it was concentrated only in Australia.

easiest way to change your password is to install mobileterminal from cydia
turn on ssh, then run terminal and type "ssh root@localhost"
wait for a key to generate, type yes when prompted
type passwd
enter new password twice

[Phaneuf3]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

http://www.macrumors.com/2009/11/09/...-in-australia/

The fact that people are calling this "the first iPhone worm" is laughable at best. I realize it is a worm, but this isn't exactly hardcore stuff. This is like me sitting outside your house with my laptop and connecting to your unsecured wireless router, then using the default d-link password to mess with your admin settings... and then running around on the internet calling myself a hacker. I'm getting an even bigger kick out of the more sensational media outlets who are accidentally leaving the word "jailbroken" out of their stories.

If people are going to mess around with the security of their iPhones just for the sake of installing some unapproved apps with even more security issues and/or the ability to change thier icons and font colours... they should at least follow the very first step in the instructions and change their phone's default root-level password.


Edit: You'll have to click the link above in order to see the worm's intended payload. Let's just say it's far too unbearable to repeat here.

Its a worm. It affects iPhones. Its an iPhone worm.
The fact that its not malicious or that you have to be a moron to be affected by it doesn't matter. A worm, is a worm, is a worm. People having no idea how to run, let alone secure, their devices properly is the cause of a vast majority of these types of problems; it doesn't matter what platform you're running on.