New iPhone worm is malicious, but "isolated" for now

The first iPhone worm was little more than a prank, but this new one—"isolated" in the Netherlands for now—attempts to steal the victim's online banking information. 

BBC News reports that the new worm—only the second iPhone worm yet discovered—can only infect "jailbroken" iPhones, and specifically those with SSH (secure shell) installed and the default password unchanged. (Jailbroken iPhones have been specifically hacked to run software unauthorized by Apple.)

According to the Beeb, the new worm targets customers of Dutch bank ING, with infected phones redirecting the iPhone's browser to a fake ING site designed to swipe the usernames and passwords of unsuspecting users.

That's the bad news. The good news: It seems that this new iPhone worm is "fairly isolated and specific to the Netherlands" for now, an F-Secure spokesman told the BBC, and it appears the number of infected phones is only "in the hundreds."

That said, the expects at F-Secure warn that the worm could spread from one iPhone to another over a shared Wi-Fi hotspot.

So, who's behind the new iPhone attack? That's still unknown, although AppleInsider notes that the botnet-like worm, once ensconced in a host iPhone, communicates with "a Web-based command and control center based in Lithuania."

The worm comes on the heels of the "ikee" worm, an innocuous little bugger that did little more than change an iPhone's wallpaper to a picture of 80's pop singer Rick Astley. The 21-year-old creator of the worm said he was "just poking fun" and was "hoping waking [sic] people up a little" about keeping their jailbroken iPhones more secure.

Both the "ikee" worm and this latest specimen should serve as a warning to anyone with a jailbroken iPhone who hasn't bothered to change their default SSH password. (SSH is a service that allows for remote access to—and control of—a networked device, like an iPhone.)

The moral of the story: If you're an iPhone jailbreaker with SSH installed, and your SSH password is still "alpine," do yourself a favor and change it, pronto.

Related:
New iPhone worm can act like botnet say experts [BBC News]