Sydney (ip-192.com): Jail-broken iPhones are the target of the first known worm that hijacks iPhones. A hacker who identifies himself as "ikex" created the worm. The worm works by trying to find other jail-broken iPhones on the same cell phone network. If the iPhones are still set with their default SSH password, the worm installs itself and changes the wallpaper to a photo of 80's singer Rick Astley and the text "ikee is never going to give you up."
According to several reports, at least four variants of the worm have been written so far. They don't do anything other than install the wallpaper. However, BBC experts believe that the new worm could spawn more malicious variants in the future.
For now, the threat seems to be limited to owners of jail-broken (a term that refers to a hack that allows users to run software not approved by Apple on the iPhone) iPhones in Australia.
Its 21-year-old creator, Ashley Towns, who lives south of Sydney, says that he created the virus to raise the issue of security, according to Australia's ABC News Online. "This virus pretty much exploits people's laziness to change their password," he says.
It can be removed by changing the phone's password and deleting some files.
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