Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
My Profile
Top News
Reuters top ten news stories delivered to your inbox each day.
Subscribe
You are here:
Home
>
News
>
Technology
>
Article
Home
Business & Finance
News
U.S.
Politics
International
Technology
Internet
Entertainment
Sports
Lifestyle
Oddly Enough
Health
Science
Special Coverage
Video
Pictures
Your View
The Great Debate
Blogs
Weather
Reader Feedback
Do More With Reuters
RSS
Widgets
Mobile
Podcasts
Newsletters
Your View
Make Reuters My Homepage
Partner Services
CareerBuilder
Affiliate Network
Professional Products
Support (Customer Zone)
Reuters Media
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
"Jail broken" iPhones hacked by new virus
Tue Nov 24, 2009 2:18am EST
Email | Print |
Share
| Reprints | Single Page
[-]
Text
[+]
By Jim Finkle
BOSTON (Reuters) - Hackers have built a virus that attacks Apple Inc's iPhone by secretly taking control of the devices via their Internet connections, security experts said.
The virus has been detected in the Netherlands and can only attack iPhones whose users have disabled some pre-installed security features, according to analysts monitoring the progress of the virus.
The hackers are trying to use the virus to obtain passwords to banking sites, according to Graham Cluley, a researcher with anti-virus software maker Sophos. When an iPhone user tries to access a bank website, the Duh Worm directs the browser to a look-a-like site controlled by the hackers, Cluley said.
A spokeswoman for ING Group said the Dutch banking giant discovered a criminal network that attempted to steal banking credentials via hacked iPhones. Dutch clients of ING have been targeted, but there was no indication that clients outside the Netherlands have to worry, she said.
ING has not received any reports from clients that their credentials have been lost, but the bank was monitoring client accounts for suspicious transactions, the spokeswoman said.
The only iPhones that are vulnerable to the Duh Worm are "jail broken" phones, where users disable key Apple security features to get around the terms of usage agreement that they are designed to enforce, analysts said.
For example, Apple prevents users from switching service providers to unauthorized carriers and limits users to the approximately 100,000 programs that the company has vetted for installation on the device. There are thousands of unauthorized programs covering areas including Internet phone calls, WiFi access and pornography.
"The vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones, and for good reason. These hacks not only violate the warranty, they will also cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably," said Apple spokeswoman Natalie Harrison.
Three independent security experts said that it is best for iPhone users not to jail break their devices because the security risks are greater than the benefits.
"They're leaving their back door open. Every one else knows what the key is to open that door," Cluley said.
The ING spokeswoman said: "People who use their iPhones in a regular way have nothing to fear."
The case, which was widely reported by security experts on Monday, is the first in which iPhones have been recruited into a "botnet," or army of infected devices that hackers can control from a central "command and control center."
Early this year an unknown criminal gang built a botnet with millions of PCs using a worm known as Conficker. Security researchers feared that it might wreak havoc on April 1 based on code in the worm's software, but that date passed with little fanfare.
Since then, security researchers say that a limited number of Conficker-infected PCs have been used to spread spam, sell fake anti-virus software and perpetrate identity theft.
Mikko Hypponen, an expert on Conficker and chief research officer for security software maker F-Secure, said that Duh could spread from the Netherlands to other countries. Continued...
View article on single page
Share:
Del.icio.us
Digg
Mixx
Yahoo!
Facebook
LinkedIn
Next Article:
Microsoft, News Corp weigh Web pact: source
Also On Reuters
Big Bang machine achieves first particle collisions
Blog: Route to Recovery: Another American city dies
"Jail broken" iPhones hacked by new virus
More Technology News
Twitter eyes acquisitions, sees making money in 2010
Microsoft, News Corp weigh Web pact: source
AT&T offers pay by day, week, month data options
Google buying display advertising startup
eBay says fixes search glitch on website
More Technology News...
More News
UPDATE 1-RIM security chief sees smartphone attacks on horizon
Tuesday, 17 Nov 2009 04:17pm EST
Editor's Choice
Slideshow
A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. Slideshow
Most Popular on Reuters
Articles
Video
UPDATE 2-Adam Lambert's sexually-charged act draws complaints
Murdoch courts trouble if he blocks Google on news
Cribs recalled in U.S., Canada over safety concerns
Q+A: India, U.S. and Pakistan
Philippines imposes emergency; massacre toll reaches 46 | Video
Obama aims to reassure Singh on U.S.-India ties
Big Bang machine achieves first particle collisions | Video
U.S. pitches unique F-35 fighter jet to Israel
Smash "Twilight" sequel enters record books
U.S. dollar no longer a one-way bet
Most Popular Articles RSS Feed
Video
Obama's South Asia balancing act
Ahmadinejad visits Brazil
England floods split town in two
China train travels through time
Talk of the Town: "New Moon" shines
Trapped in a van under avalanche
Pakistan's displaced growing
U.S. health reform moves on
Talk of the Town
Collider restarts after hitch
Most Popular Videos RSS Feed
Reuters.com:
Help and Contact Us |
Advertise With Us |
Mobile |
Newsletters |
RSS |
Labs |
Journalism Handbook |
Archive |
Site Index |
Video Index
Thomson Reuters Corporate:
Copyright |
Disclaimer |
Privacy |
Professional Products |
Professional Products Support |
About Thomson Reuters |
Careers
International Editions:
Africa |
Arabic |
Argentina |
Brazil |
Canada |
China |
France |
Germany |
India |
Italy |
Japan |
Latin America |
Mexico |
Russia |
Spain |
United Kingdom |
United States
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.