Flaw in iPhone Leaves Users Vulnerable
According to a new report discussed in the New York Times, Apple’s iPhone contains a security flaw enabling hackers to take control of the mobile device. Researchers from Independent Security Evaluators (ISE), a company that tests its clients’ computer security by hacking it, claim to have found a flaw in the iPhone that provides hackers with access to a user’s personal information.
Using a WiFi connection or by tricking users into going to a Web site that contains a malicious code, researchers were able to gain control of the iPhone and direct it to deliver information like telephone numbers and email addresses. The phone promptly followed instructions and transmitted anything the researchers requested to the hacking computer.
Steven M. Bellovin, who for many years was a computer security expert at AT&T and is now a professor of computer science at Columbia University, was not surprised at the vulnerability of the iPhone and said this was an inevitable result. Aviel D. Rubin, ISE’s founder and the technical director of the Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins University, agreed with Bellovin saying
“Anything as complex as a computer — which is what this phone is — is going to have vulnerabilities.”
ISE reported their findings to Apple and recommended a software patch that could solve the problem. Lynn Fox, a spokeswoman for Apple, said “Apple takes security very seriously…We’re looking into the report submitted by I.S.E. and always welcome feedback on how to improve our security.”
Details on the vulnerability of the iPhone may be found on the Security Evaluators website.
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