Security experts this week unveiled a major security risk in Apple's iPhone at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas. The Black Hat conference is one of the world's top security expo's where like minded security experts gather to exchange information on security threats and how to resolve them.
Apple was warned back in mid July that its popular mobile device had a major security flaw, with the two PhD students who discovered it staying quiet hoping that Apple would resolve the issue without malicious parties finding out.
The students said they gave Apple sufficient time to resolve the problem and instead Apple has done nothing to address the major security concern, so the couple announced the flaw at the conference in a bid to get Apple moving on a fix to the problem.
The pair also found similar problems with Google's Android mobile operating system, however Google immediately patched the problem after being told of the issue.
The hack works by the iPhone recipient receiving a corrupted text message which then changes the carrier settings on the phone allowing the person who sent the message full access to the iPhone. Recipients would not even be aware they'd received the message nor would they know someone had taken over their phone. The ramifications are that the hacker can then make calls and use your data allowance without your knowledge and potentially rack up a large bill.
What the security hole highlights is that every operating system platform is at risk of attack, including Apple. Apple users have laughed at Windows users for years over the malware attacks running rampant on Windows systems and now they have something to worry about as well.
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