Jailbreak-free iPhones more susceptible to Spyware?

Common belief and logic would have it that if unless you jailbreak your iPhone, you are keeping it secured from attacks against any spyware. A Swiss developer is hereby challenging that notion, saying that in fact, if your iPhone is a jailbreak-virgin, you are making it more vulnerable and susceptible to malicious apps.

Common belief and logic would have it that if unless you jailbreak your iPhone, you are keeping it secured from attacks against any spyware. A Swiss developer is hereby challenging that notion, saying that in fact, if your iPhone is a jailbreak-virgin, you are making it more vulnerable and susceptible to malicious apps.

Nicolas Seriot is the said Swiss developer, and according to him, these spyware can possibly lift any data straight off your iPhone – emails accounts and keyboard entries in cache and browser history files are the most vulnerable targets of the said tainted apps. To combat this, Seriot has come up with a proof of concept, SpyPhone. This could then read or edit the user’s address book, browse web surfing history, and even see recent GPS positions.

Underneath all this proposal for a spyware app is, of course, the accusation that there is a major loophole in Apple’s supposedly air-tight iPhone system security. Apple, for their part, has not responded to these charges. But if in case you want to play it on the safe side – but does not trust the SpyPhone all that much yet – then Seriot suggests that you prompt authorization access to your Address Books, as well as implement firewalls. You can also make sure that the keyboard cache you use for your gadget is an OS-only service, and not available to apps.

Via [The Register]