Is Your Jailbreak Iphone Safe from ‘ikee’ Virus?
11/08/2009 09:58:00 PM - 1 comments
Has it lately happened to you that you woke up in the morning and found your iPhone home screen background a bit modified than the one you had and could last recall? Well, it might come to you as a shocker, but it has been happening with some users with jailbreak iphones.It has so happened that an Australian hacker nicknamed ‘ikee’ has been flooding the devices of jailbroken iPhone users who have installed SSH with the first iPhone virus. Aren’t you sure, your jailbroken iPhone has been hacked or not?
Well, ‘ikee’ however, makes its presence prominent as you can see your jailbroken iPhone change its background automatically to that of Rick Astley (some 80’s singer) with the words "ikee is never going to give you up. You know for sure then that ikee virus has infected your jailbreak iPhone. So, is jailbreaking of iPhone a risk?
Jailbreaking is no risk, unchanged password is….
Coming to your query of jailbreak iphone being at risk; NO. Users with locked Apple iPhones and those with jailbroken iPhone in general are not at risk from ‘ikee’ since this exploit affects only those jailbroken iPhones which have installed SSH. Well, do not be taken aback.
SSH access is indispensable for accessing your iPhone’s file system. It also opens up root access to your iPhone with the default password “alpine”. However, this news cannot be considered a failure on Apple’s part as it simply means that jailbreakers require being more conscious of the security holes they’re opening up with unauthorized software. So, the first thing you should do on SSH installation after jailbreaking is change the root password with a password of your choice.
How it happens…
If you are still not very clear about it, here is a bit of clarification – SSH on jailbroken iPhones, can be installed with a package from Cydia that lets you to connect to your phone and make changes to the file system. This is done by logging into the root user with the password ‘alpine’. However, it is always recommended that you change ‘alpine’ to the password of your choice.
But, you have to know one thing; this hack ‘ikee’ can only affect devices which have not changed the default ‘root’ password – and not otherwise. Here’s what ‘ikee’ in an interview writes:
...The code itself is set to firstly scan the 3G IP range the phone is on, then Optus/Vodafone/Telstra's IP Ranges (I think the reason Optus got hit so hard is because the other 2 are NAT'd) then a random 20 IP ranges. I'm guessing a few phones hit a range that another vulnerable phone was on. Basically, once your phone is infected, the worm starts looking for other iPhones on the cellular network that use the root:alpine combination. Once it finds another vulnerable iPhone, it installs itself and begins the process again... and again... and again.
Well, this sounds terrible, and most users who are caught off-guard are those who jailbreak iphone without proper knowledge and technical support. You can opt for safe iphone unlocking and jailbreaking with round-the-clock services from easyiphoneunlocking.com.
Posted: Seuli.B
Hence, it's recommended to change the default root password of your iPhone.
Nice article.
iPhoner Users