Jailbroken iPhones get their own Trojan!


10-15-07-iphone.jpg

Those of you that like to complain about Apple keeping the iPhone locked up – here’s ONE reason why they do it. (I’m not saying it’s the ONLY reason, by far – but it is a darn good reason.)

An 11 year old kid has written the very first Trojan for jailbroken iPhones.

From the iPodNN Article:

While installation of the phony application is relatively benign – the app merely says “shoes” when activated – uninstalling the file causes damage to or deletes system-critical files in the /bin directory on the iPhone. In addition to harming the devices own software, third party utilities are also being rendered useless through the same means.

This particular attack may be relatively harmless, you can bet that future ones won’t be.

We’ve all seen that the iPhone 1.1.3 update ads some of the cooler features of a Jailbroken iPhone, and the SDK is coming (most likely at Macworld).

Just wait. Don’t Jailbreak your iPhone. It’s only going to lead to problems


Kokou Adzo

Kokou Adzo is a stalwart in the tech journalism community, has been chronicling the ever-evolving world of Apple products and innovations for over a decade. As a Senior Author at Apple Gazette, Kokou combines a deep passion for technology with an innate ability to translate complex tech jargon into relatable insights for everyday users.

5 Comments

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  1. you know… actually, it’s not much of a trojan seeing as it does not try to “phone home” or let you gain remote control of the infected phone. and seeing as you actually have to *manually* install it for it to cause any harm, i don’t think it’s much of a virus either.

    anyone who jailbreaks his phone should know what he’s doing. and if you manually install an app that you know nothing about and that might be unsafe to use – tough luck, cowboy!

  2. “…Just wait. Don’t Jailbreak your iPhone. It’s only going to lead to problems”

    I one doesn’t know what he’s doing, he shouldn’t jailbreak you’re right!
    What i didn’t like about this blog entry is to claim, Apple is doing everything right, when it is clearly not the case.
    iPhone should have had a 3rd party programs infrastructure from the beginning as well as an SDK.
    SJ’s way of pushing out the phone in 2007 is understandable though – and i love my jailbroken iPhone since i have it. 😉

    When SDK is out and quality A+ 3rd party programs get available (IM Client like Apollo, TomTom GPS, ToDo List anyone?, GTD, Text editing, GAMES, GAMES, GAMES) no one will have a need to jailbreak anymore.
    Before that you can extremely increase the productivity of your iPhone.
    PERIOD!

  3. @spike1911

    “…Apple is doing everything right…”

    Where, exactly did you read that again in this post?

    I didn’t say that. Mainly, because I don’t think that. I agree that Apple should have had an SDK from day one – and I think Apple should have had FLASH from day one as well – but that doesn’t mean that Jailbreaking your iPhone is a safe thing to do.

  4. Hi Michael,

    i implied that after
    “Those of you that like to complain about Apple keeping the iPhone locked up – here’s ONE reason why they do it. (I’m not saying it’s the ONLY reason, by far – but it is a darn good reason.)”

    Sorry if i was wrong… but i am little fed up with all the whining about “problems” and so on.

    That phone is the best one i had in years. And i had a lot of cellphones and so called smart phones.

  5. @spike1911

    I’m with you on the whining for the minor things being wrong. The only good that comes from the complaining, I hope, is that Apple will make additions and improvements on the phone.

    I agree it’s the best phone I’ve EVER had – but it could still be better.

    😛