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Security Firms Can't Protect iPhone From Threats
nk497 writes "F-Secure researchers are calling attention to the fact that it's impossible to run third-party anti-virus on iPhones, because the SDK doesn't allow for it. It's a problem, as they claim malware will start to target the phone. 'None of the existing anti-virus vendors can make one, without help from Apple,' chief research officer Mikko Hypponen said. 'Apple hasn't been too interested in developing antivirus solutions for the iPhone, because there are no viruses, which of course, isn't exactly true.' At the moment, the only worms faced by the iPhone have targeted unlocked, jailbroken devices — so Apple's not too bothered protecting users of such phones." While Apple claims that the iPhone's closed nature offers protection to its users, and security vendors maneuver for a piece of a market now closed to them, clearly both sides are pushing their own self-interest.
And it's from Apple.
So it's doubly perfect. It's not like Mac OS has any security problems either.
So nothing to see here.
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
From the summary, F-Secure: "'Apple hasn't been too interested in developing antivirus solutions for the iPhone, because there are no viruses, which of course, isn't exactly true.' .
No, indeed, only jailbroken phones were infected. Thus the obvious solution for F-Secure would be to bring out an app in Cydia or other app stores for jailbroken devices.
Of course, rather than do something, their execs prefer to spend their time whining.
8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
Don't you get it: Running the antivirus software keeps all other programs including the malware from running.
Sure sounds familiar...
...all you have to do is to give me some money every week...If I were you, I'd think about what can happen to that pretty phone if it wouldn't be protected...
On second thought, let's not go to Camelot. It is a silly place.
If it's like desktop anti-virus, it will have its own vulnerabilities, take up more resources than I'd like, cause buggy behaviour or incompatibilities with other apps, and feed me false positives too often.
I don't need that on my phone. Since the only real malware we've seen for the iphone involves jailbreaking and then not properly managing your phone, I can do without.
...and here it is:
Some fella develops and distributes some serious virus that "shuts down" a big number of iPhones...
This generates [bad] publicity for the device...
The media pick the story up...(in the meantime, it's "damage control" for Apple)...
Android is touted as the best alternative...
Motorola and Co. jump on the bandwagon...
What next? profits, numbers and market share for the Droid.
Question is: Am I wrong?
I tend to be wary when using my crystal ball, but this time I want to make a prediction: This is an intended development, and we'll see more of it in the future. Jailed devices that are deemed intrinsically secure. People who dare to unlock their device not only open themselves up for infections, they also can't get any help to make their devices secure again because everyone who could or would offer them this help is locked out.
Now add laws that started to creep into our legislative where you're legally responsible for it if your device is insecure and doing something illegal.
In the long run, you will only be secure and not responsible for anything your device does if you don't mind not owning it.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Apple isn't too concerned because all Apps run in a sandbox. There would have to be a very glaring hole in iPhoneOS would an attacker be able to take over an iPhone in this way. I remember a vulnerability that allowed exploitation through doctored SMS packets somehow, but I'm not sure how serious it was. At any rate, that's fixed now as far as I remember. Really, this is just about anti-virus companies trying to instill fear in the hearts of ignorant users. iPhone users that have jailbroken their iPhone have made it their own responsibility to look after security and I don't believe for a second that F-Secure is targeting *them* (SDK limitations wouldn't be a roadblock in that case). I see very little opportunity for a hacker to invade an iPhone, and thus it's not a huge priority to install any security software on the iPhone.
This is even more stupid than their attempt to sell antivirus for Palm OS.
There is no mechanism for transmission between one iPhone and another UNLESS the iPhone is jailbroken.
So Symantec only needs to write antivirus for jailbroken iPhones. And Apple would have no way to prevent them. So what's their problem?
Only third party apps are barred from running in the background.
Apple apps can and do run in the background which is why any AV company would have to work with Apple.
F-Secure cannot get money out of iPhone users, therefore whines and tries to scare executives.
Stupidity is the root of all evil.
"While Apple claims that the iPhone's closed nature offers protection to its users"
Going further, I have absolutely no patience with people who hack iPhones. A phone is an appliance connected to a public asset - EM bandwidth. People using public assets have a duty of care, and it's the failure of duty of care (tragedy of the Commons) that has done a lot of damage to society.
What I do on my own local network is my affair, but I think increasingly we should have a reasonable expectation that anything connected to a public network is properly secured and maintained, just like (in the UK at least) we test cars annually to check they are safe on the road. I'm afraid that the Wild West days of the Internet are increasingly over - and the excesses of some people is bringing down an overreaction.
Over the next 20 years we have to find a way to put the genie back in the bottle without killing the genie or spoiling the bottle. The politicians will try to screw this up. But the rest of us need to realise that we need to grow up too - we need to understand that if we want a reliable public internet and mobile phone system, we need to stop treating people who act irresponsibly as if their behaviour was acceptable or clever. Otherwise anti-virus and anti-malware software will continue to eat up too many of our CPU cycles, shorten the lives of our hard drives, and cause increasing frustration to those of us who actually need to earn a living, and have to use the Internet and the phone system to do it.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
I thought it was running some form of Unix/Linux sort of OS.
I realize these modern day snake oil salesmen have convinced corporate America that their product is effective against all viruses on all platforms. However if you look at the definition file that they install on all the systems you'll see that the signatures list which platform they're for. I was curious so I greped the file. Turns out that while there's hundreds of thousands of windows definitions in the file there's only tens for linux and fewer for sun.
When pressed on this they'll tell you that they look for all those viruses so they arn't passed by the ftp/http/mail server on the unix box. While there's some merit to this position I don't see how it's at all relevant to the iPhone.
Be fair now - they couldn't find anything else for today's daily Iphone Slashvertisement, so they had to run with this.
That's all I hear.
BTW, if the original "anti-virus expert" really put unlock and jailbreak as the same thing, he needs to learn more about iPhones.
Jailbreak is breaking out of the chroot jail. It gives you root access so you can do wonderful things like install an SSH-daemon (which, unfortunately uses a standard password which the worms out there are exploiting now), as well as install apps that you want instead of only those that's passed Apple's draconian approval service.
Unlocking is SIM-unlocking, its purpose is so that an unauthorized SIM card (in the US that means non-AT&T) works on the iPhone. If you're using an AT&T card, you don't need to unlock, but you can still jailbreak. You need to run a software not authorized by Apple to do the unlock, so to unlock you *need* to jailbreak.
As for F-Secure, eh, fuck 'em. Their threat of Symbian viruses is also snake oil, it requires the most idiotic of idiots to see "Hmm someone wants to send me something over BlueTooth. OK I'll accept. Transfer finished. Let's open it. Oh it wants to install an app, should I install or should I deny?" and F-Secure sells you unproven protection if you say "install". Goddamnit, if you are so goddamned dumb, you deserve to get swindled by this company.
What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
Oh my God! My PS3, 360 and Wii are on the internet and they don't have anti-virus, too! What are we going to do!
Seriously, this is news for nerds? Some morons jailbreak their phones, leaving SSH with a default password, they get hacked, and suddenly A/V firms think they have an "in"? You could install every A/V program on the planet on a windows PC, but if you install SSH with a default password, it will still get hacked.
today is spelling optional day.
In the early days, there were some remote exploits that you could use to jailbreak a device but those remote exploits have now been fixed soon after the jailbreaking community discovered the holes and published their software.
The official firmware from Apple is essentially hardened now against any remote attacks or malware attempting to run so there is no market for anti-virus on the iPhone.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
iLocalis is a clone of "Find My iPhone", a feature of the 3.x firmware.
Winterboard is customizable but it is also slow and unstable.
OpenSSH Server has no business on a phone. There are several SSH clients in the app store for connecting to other machines for administrative purposes. If you feel the need to have a phone that requires administration, I would suggest looking at a windows mobile phone. I hear that they have all sorts of interesting crashes and race conditions.
If you want Intelliscreen, it sounds like you would be happier with a windows phone but there are obviously trade offs like no integration with a jukebox and no app store.
MyProfiles, is a solution looking for a problem. It is such a small niche that it is not worth Apple to invest time in providing such a feature.
If you want to hack phones, I'd suggest getting another type of phone. The iPhone is designed to be an appliance for busy people to use and have it "just work".
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
Actually, someone already had a fully flagged AV solution for jailbroken iPhones ...
http://www.appleiphoneschool.com/2008/05/05/ivirusscan-10b02/