Apple patches the iPhone SMS vulnerability with firmware 3.0.1

Image via Engadget

iPhone owners who have been living in fear of a malicious attack via SMS can now breathe a sigh of relief: Apple has released a new firmware update via iTunes to patch up the vulnerability.

Discovered by security expert Charlie Miller, the exploit supposedly gave hackers control of some iPhone features by running code sent via SMS.  Using the vulnerability, a hacker could access the GPS, turn on the phone’s microphone or even turn the iPhone into a DDoS bot.  Miller clued Apple in on the exploit about a month ago and Cupertino has finally responded with this patch.

The iPhone has been, to this point, pretty safe as far as hacks like this go.  Were the phone more vulnerable to worms, viruses and other dangers, the enterprise crowd would have to give serious thoughts to using the phone, period.  Companies that rely on a safe, secure mobile platform probably wouldn’t like the potential for their conversations to be tapped or their private data to be accessed.  We’re glad to see that 3.0.1 patches the issue and hope there aren’t more worms in the future.

July 31st, 2009 by Shawn Farner | Posted in Uncategorized | (0)