iPhone/Privacy.A virus attacks jailbroken iPhone

Previously we informed you about the ikee worm that targeted jailbroken iPhone. Well it seems, the worm attacks on unlocked iPhones are far from over. Enter iPhone/Privacy.A: the latest worm to attack your unlocked iPhone. iPhone/Privacy.A is believed to be more malicious than the previous worms to attack iPhone. Jailbroken iPod Touches are also affected by this virus.

As is the common trend seen with the latest iPhone worms, they attack only those jailbroken iPhones whose root passwords remain unchanged. Users who own a non-jailbreak iPhone, are safe from this latest madness.

iPhone/Privacy.A makes use of the  OpenSSH access to the jailbroken iPhone using the default ‘alpine’ password and intrudes into iPhone.

Once the hacker gets access to the jailbroken iPhone, the tool enables the user to easily  copy  private  e-mails, contacts, SMSs, calendars, photos, music files, videos, as well as any data recorded by any iPhone app. What’s worse is the fact that unlike ikee, it doesn’t inform the user that their iPhone privacy has been compromised.

Intego reports that the very same tool can be installed onto the computer as well. Once installed, it scans the computer’s network to find more jailbroken iPhones. Here is what Intego says:

This hacker tool could easily be installed, for example, on a computer on display in a retail store, which could then scan all iPhones that pass within the reach of its network. Or, a hacker could sit in an Internet café and let his computer scan all iPhones that come within the range of the wifi network in search of data. Hackers could even install this tool on their own iPhones, and use it to scan for jailbroken phones as they go about their daily business.

Owners of jailbroken iPhone and iPod Touch are advised to change their root passwords as soon as possible to save them from this deadly virus.

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