Newer, Deadlier Worm Hits Jailbroken iPhones

Image credit: Found on coated.com - Link -
Been hearing the buzz on this for the past 48 hours.
Recently, the first ever iPhone worm spread from Australia to the rest of the world. The worm, which only affected jailbroken iPhones and iPod Touches, subjected users all over the world to the horror of looking into Rick Astley's cold, cold eyes. Other than that, the worm was mostly harmless.

The first worm was a far cry from the second one, which was only very recently discovered by iPhone watchdogs around the world. This new worm scours the jailbroken devices for bank account, credit card, and other private information, and routes the data back to an IP address that researchers have traced to Lithuania.

This newer, deadlier worm uses the same exploit that the Rick Astley worm used. Jailbroken iPhones and iPod Touches have a security hole that lets hackers change the root password and create unique ID's for themselves, essentially accessing the devices remotely.

Several fixes have already been suggested on the Internet, so it's rather easy for stricken users to address the problem. But experts have predicted that the worm can do much more damage in the near future, and are keeping a close eye on developments.

What's worrying about this new worm is that, as of yet, there's still no way of knowing whether or not un-jailbroken iPhones and iPod Touches can be affected by it. So far no legitimate user has reported an infection, but if that changes in the next few days, it's going to cause a ripple of panic among Apple users all over the world.

Apple's no doubt on the case, but it's likely they won't do much for users of jailbroken iPhones and iPod Touches. Perhaps this is just another indication of a lesson that's never learned -- you shouldn't really tinker with other people's intellectual property and expect to go scot-free. Somehow, in some form, the bad juju manages to find its way back to you.

The same goes with pirated software, the use of which is still pretty rampant in this part of the world. Sure, you can get pirated Windows OS's almost free, but without the proper updates and protection, you leave yourself vulnerable to attacks -- and stand to lose much more over the long run. Frankly, if you're on Windows in the first place, you've probably already lost the war, but that's my humble opinion.

So, again and again, respect intellectual property -- only buy legitimate devices and software, and only use them according to the makers' specifications. At the very least, it's one less thing to worry about.