Posted on 11/06/2014 10:14:15 AM PST by for-q-clinton
For most of the iPhone's lifespan, it's been effectively immune to malware. There were theoretical attacks and viruses targeting jailbroken phones, but thanks to the tight controls of the App Store, finding iOS malware in the wild has been nearly impossible. If you didn't jailbreak your phone and you weren’t targeted by the NSA, you simply didn't have to worry about catching a virus.
Yesterday, that changed. A security firm called Palo Alto Networks discovered a malware program they’re calling Wirelurker, which sneaks into computers through unauthorized Chinese apps, then attacks iOS devices when they connect over USB. It’s an obscure line of attack (when’s the last time you actually plugged your iPhone into your computer?), confined to China, and so far the effects have been minimal. The actual payload for non-jailbroken phones was just a test balloon, side-loading a comic book app to prove the attack really worked. Jailbroken phones got a nastier payload, infecting payment apps, but that's to be expected. Last night, Apple blocked the apps, saying "We are aware of malicious software available from a download site aimed at users in China, and we’ve blocked the identified apps to prevent them from launching. As always, we recommend that users download and install software from trusted sources." Less than 24 hours after Palo Alto Networks published its report, Wirelurker appears to be mostly wiped out. Still, that doesn't mean Apple is completely in the clear. The vulnerabilities exploited by Wirelurker will be around for much longer, and could pose a serious threat to Apple's otherwise spotless record. Now that the platform has had its first real virus scare, there's reason to think it won't be the last.
(Excerpt) Read more at theverge.com ...
Someone will be here to explain it all away...
LOL
FReeper, please....
Like, mal-ware you have to download?
Just wait. ;)
The money quote:
“...when’s the last time you actually plugged your iPhone into your computer?”
Once it’s screwed the system, does it really matter how it gets in?
So, if you go outside of Apple’s “walled garden” to get apps from an untrusted source, you might get malware? Thanks for the newsflash.
In other news: people who intentionally compromise the security of their computers are discovered to be at higher risk for virii!
Well those people will have to learn how not to be dumb with smartphones.
Good luck with that.
In other news: people who leave their phones lying out in public with a “take me!” sign attached to them report higher rates of phone theft!
Same thing for windows - you can download anything you want.
In other news: people who repeatedly hit themselves int he head with hammer report a 485% higher than average rate of blunt trauma injuries!
IOs8 is buggy and can’t even cut and paste properly. I’m not surprised. If you want to sync with iTunes or back up your phone, you’d most likely connect to your computer with USB. Would your computer then get infected too?
Probably. Can’t say for sure but its senseless to have a virus that doesn’t use all the pathways.
spare me. you’re well known jihad against apple is thoroughly into the realm of the pathological.
Yea and your crew’s well known jihad to promote Apple’s perfection isn’t strange at all.
When I was maybe 8 or 9 back in the pre internet 70s, I got a pair of K2 skis for Christmas. I used to think those skis were the greatest thing ever. We;d get a couple magazines delivered and I used to pour over them, my young mind associating the great skiers of the day with the brand, as many used them. you know, like lots of kids do.
I’d cut out the ads and put them up on my wall like posters because I had a pair of skis like those. I’d tell my friends how great they were and about my heroes in the sport that used them. Pretty much like other kids did with their baseball gloves and their baseball heroes. Typical kid stuff. Looking back it seems kind of embarrassing now, but to a kid, its things like that that seem like their whole world at the time. But you know, you get older and things like that just fade into memory, a childhood memory now gone in a world of grown up concerns.
I don’t know what made me think of that.
A security firm ... discovered a malware program they’re calling Wirelurker, which sneaks into computers through UNAUTHORIZED CHINESE APPS, then attacks iOS devices when they connect over USB. It’s an obscure line of attack (when’s the last time you actually plugged your iPhone into your computer?), CONFINED TO CHINA, and so far the EFFECTS HAVE BEEN MINIMAL. ... LAST NIGHT, APPLE BLOCKED THE APPS, saying “We are aware of malicious software available from a download site aimed at users in China, and we’ve blocked the identified apps to prevent them from launching. As always, we recommend that users download and install software from trusted sources.” Less than 24 hours after Palo Alto Networks published its report, Wirelurker appears to be mostly wiped out.”
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Oh noes!!!! I’m going to have to stop loading unauthorized Chinese Apps into my iMac followed by connecting my iPhone to the iMac over USB.
Oh wait ... I never do that anyhow. Geez, I don’t know anybody who does that.
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