Can my iPhone get a virus? You bet!

There are so many things you can do with your iPhone. You can surf the web, read your email, send text messages, make phone calls, and sometimes even carry out online transactions. Unfortunately, all these things make the iPhone a perfect candidate for a mobile virus.

There are hundreds of mobile phone viruses out there, and as Robin noted, these can be spread through Internet downloads, MMS attachments, and Bluetooth. Security experts have warned that phones running Symbian, Windows and Palm software are the most vulnerable, but as soon as the iPhone hit the market, it became a new target for hackers.

A team of security researchers at Independent Security Evaluators lead by Charlie Miller discovered a vulnerability in Safari that allowed them to take control of the iPhone two weeks after its release. According to Exploiting the iPhone, a web page containing malicious code accessed through Safari is what ultimately compromised the iPhone. Apple was notified of the vulnerability, and has offered several patches since then via iPhone software updates. You can see the latest ones here and here.

Does this mean your iPhone is now safe? Not really. Hackers will continue to look for vulnerabilities, so you should protect your iPhone the same way you would protect your computer at home.

Here's some good general advice:

Change your Bluetooth settings: In an earlier article, I told you about Bluejacking, Bluesnarfing, and Bluebugging, all methods used by hackers to compromise your phone. ICT security expert Dino Covotsos is all too familiar with these Bluetooth vulnerabilities, and recommends users turn off Bluetooth when they don't use it, enable hidden mode, and most importantly, he says you should change your phone's default name because hackers will usually go for known vulnerabilities first. New phones may come with Bluetooth turned on as a default, so make sure you double check your settings. You can access your iPhone's Bluetooth settings by going to Settings>General>Bluetooth.

Don't click, if you don't trust it: The iPhone is a great tool to check email, send SMS messages, and surf the Web when you're on the road, but you have to be careful. If you receive emails or text messages from people you don't know, delete them and don't ever click any links or open attachments in these emails. Common sense, right?

Jailbreak it at your own risk: Apple does a good job of warning people against doing this, but if you're going to do it anyway, I suggest you proceed with caution. APC warns that the same jailbreak techniques used to unlock the iPhone can be used by hackers to push malware onto the phone. Runald, Security Response Manager for F-Secure Security Labs, told the magazine that it's 90% likely that we will see more malware targeting the iPhone in the near future. He adds, that by breaking out of the iPhone's secure mode, your phone is essentially left unprotected.

Install security software: Granted, the iPhone is still new so you may not have too many options here, but keep in mind that the company released a Software Development Kit (SDK) in February, so it won't be long before developers produce third-party security applications for the iPhone. Earlier this week, SMobile Systems introduced an iPhone security suite that includes anti-virus, anti-spam, and firewall protection software. You can find more details about the software on its website. Hopefully, we will see more security software like this in the future.

More on mobile phone viruses:
Protect Your Mobile from Bluetooth Attacks
Is Your Phone Catching a Virus?
Viruses on Your Mobile Phone?