Get Out of Jail, Not so Free

Nearly two years ago the first attempt at creating iPhone malware was seen.  That was an attack against jailbroken iPhones.  This month, although the shenanigans are still targeting jailbroken iPhones, things got a bit more complicated.
Last week saw someone in the Netherlands attempting to extort iPhone owners.  The attacker scanned his mobile phone carrier’s network looking for jailbroken iPhones. Once he located a phone running the secure shell service(SSH) he attempted to login using the default root user account password.  instead of quietly taking a look at or copying the user’s SMS messages and emails,  he decided to be a nice guy and replace their wallpaper with a demand for €5(approximately $7) in order to secure their iPhone.  His PayPal account was shut down and he quickly put up instructions for changing the password on his site.
Then this very week also saw the release of a worm by an Australian malware author using the handle ‘ikee’.  It exploits the same root password vulnerability as that used by the Netherlands attacker.  The worm family is now called OSX/RRoll.  It’s notable for replacing your wallpaper with an image of Rick Astley and a message from the author.  After changing the (continue reading...)