Slashdot Mirror
First iOS Malware Discovered In Apple's App Store
New submitter DavidGilbert99 writes "Security experts have discovered what is claimed to be the first ever piece of malware to be found in the Apple App Store. While Android is well known for malware, Apple has prided itself on being free from malicious apps ... until now. The app steals your contact data and uploads it to a remote server before sending spam SMS messages to all your contacts, but the messages look like they are coming from you."
...but years ago there was a tethering app disguised as a flashlight app so it's been possible for a long time.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
The app steals your contact data and uploads it to a remote server
So it's just iCloud?
So they targeted both groups.
One of my beefs about iOS is that even though it will ask the user if an app attempts to use the GPS or notification, there are plenty of juicy things that can be obtained and copied elsewhere. Photos are protected against being deleted, but they can be slurped up and copied off without the user knowing. Same with contacts and music.
I'm surprised this was caught. If a person jailbreaks their device and runs PMP (Protect My Privacy) and Firewall IP, they will see a lot of apps digging in places where they shouldn't be, and sending lots of data to sites that have zero relevance to the task at hand. One major news app connects to so many sites without DNS (just via IP addresses) that I ended up just blacklisting all but the few sites it gets news info.
I would say where the rubber meets the road, iOS has been more secure, because Apple guards the gateway and does it well. However, if anything malicious does make it past, it can have a field day.
Some people tend to have an all-or-nothing nature, especially when it concerns something they go partisan over - like Apple.
I've easily had dozens of arguments over the years where I argued Apple was the more secure solution for the average user, people responded with pwn to own or some such, and if I argued further, they just labeled me as a "fanboi" as if that ended the argument even if I argued the Unix underpinnings. Nevermind that I use W7 and Ubuntu myself, or that it's my own personal experience having to play tech support to an entire tech-challenged family that's both hardworking and lucky enough to afford to have a choice. Sure, I could put them on OpenBSD or HardenedLinux, but the first obstacle they run into, they say "Why can't I do yadayadayada" they'll go and find a way to install Windows on it, which is perfectly fine by itself, and start downloading mouse icons that look like toy trojan horses and what not.
The mindset of Y turns out to not be perfect, so it's on the same level of X, must originate from politics because the whole feel of the debate seems political. It's a retarded mentality to have, akin to cheering for wrestlers and their bogus storylines. It's sad that it has crept into tech so pervasively and that's what the whole last decade felt like on any issue - stupid partisan cheerleading for one side or the other, or booing against one side or another.
The truth of a walled garden is that it's the most practical solution for most consumers, who really don't or can't police what they're doing. I wouldn't want to live in one exclusively, nor would most geeks, but that's why they're geeks, they go above and beyond the artificial constraints and don't need the protection.