Neoseeker : News : First iPhone worm infects Australians with Rick Astley

First iPhone worm infects Australians with Rick Astley
Lydia Sung - Monday, November 9th, 2009 | 2:52PM (PT) 0 Like Favourites (0)


Prank-worm changes victim's wallpaper to show singer - diabolical!

First iPhone worm infects Australians with Rick Astley Image 1

Do you like '80s music, live in Australia, and own a cracked iPhone?  If so, then this may be the worm for you.  Ikee, the first iPhone worm ever, is infecting some of Apple's nifty devices down under.

Ikee doesn't do anything bad on its own, but anyone who "modified" their iPhones to run unauthorized software is at risk of having their wallpaper changed.  Seems that's all Ikee was meant to do: switch the victim's display to show Rick Astley before seeking other iPhones.  Since this only works on jailbroken devices, not a whole lot of people have been infected, namely only those who are running the Unix utility "Secure Shell," or SSH, with the default password "alpine."

Security experts are, however, concerned that the worm could be modified to steal information or perform other dangerous tasks.  "There is a real danger that someone could take this code and make it do something malicious," said Graham Cluley, a tech with security vendor Sophos.

The culprit turned out to be 21-year-old Ashley Towns, an unemployed programmer from Wollongong (worst name ever).  Towns claims it was meant to be a prank and he "wasn't expecting it to get as far as it did."  He also explained in an online interview that the worm was meant to prove a point, that people ought to change the default iPhone password or risk an infection like Ikee (or worse).

Needless to say, Towns has gotten some mixed responses from Australia's iPhone users.  This does have experts and the community a little worried after an incident last week, when a Dutch hacker began breaking into vulnerable iPhones and then demanded €5 (equal to $7.43 USD) in exchange for the solution.

  • 1 thumbs!
    Yorkieboy since Nov 2005 | Nov 9, 09
    A virus on an apple electronic? ABSURD.
  • 1 thumbs!
    Northern49 since May 2005 | Nov 10, 09
    Viruses aren't the result of an improperly built operating system. The more popular an OS gets, the more hackers there will be to program viruses. IE, all of those Mac commercials about Macs being virus free are basically saying their OS is less popular.
  • 0 thumbs!
    Spark since Mar 2009 | Nov 10, 09
    I lol'd it sounds funny
  • 0 thumbs!
    Zertz since Feb 2009 | Nov 10, 09
    quote Northern49
    Viruses aren't the result of an improperly built operating system.
    Riiiiiight... An OS as complex as Windows, OSX or even those on modern smartphones is bound to have flaws that could be exploited.
  • 0 thumbs!
    Hellfire29 since Jun 2007 | Nov 10, 09
    It's Wollongong, not Wollogong. Still a terrible name though, but no as bad as Wagga-wagga.
  • 0 thumbs!
    RabidChinaGirl since Oct 2007 | Nov 10, 09
    quote Hellfire29
    It's Wollongong, not Wollogong. Still a terrible name though, but no as bad as Wagga-wagga.
    My tongue gets all twisted trying to say "Wollongong."
  • 0 thumbs!
    THM since Jan 2008 | Nov 10, 09
    quote Hellfire29
    It's Wollongong, not Wollogong. Still a terrible name though, but no as bad as Wagga-wagga.
    Yes, but I also assume that "Broken Hill" is interesting..... but it's not like "Silent Hill"....hee hee!!!!!
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