Two hackers from the US, claim to have found a method to hack an iPhone by sending a single SMS to the device. The two hackers, Collin Mulliner and Charlie Miller, say there’s no defense against such an attack. This afternoon, the duo will demonstrate their findings at the Blackhat conference in Las Vegas. When the SMS has been received, the attacker can then make calls, use the internet and send SMS messages.
The hack-SMS contains only one character and users will proably not pay much attention. After the received SMS, the iPhone shuts down but becomes active quickly after that. The device cannot be used by the user anymore and stays under control of the attacker until it is given a reboot. So, when the iPhone isn’t immediately shut down after receiving the SMS, the hack becomes active.
The two say they found the vulnerability a month ago and informed Apple. Apple hasn’t come out with an official statement or a (smaller) firmware-update. This afternoon, Mulliner and Miller will also show a SMS-bug on the Windows Mobile device, which they discovered this week.
NOTE: For the attack to work, an attacker must send hundreds of SMS control messages, which are different from regular SMS messages, according to Miller. Only the initial SMS may be seen, he said.
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