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iPhone Gets its First Virus

by Tim Stevens on January 11, 2008 at 10:44 AM

iPhone Virus Affecting Unlocked PhonesYou just had to figure this was coming. With phones getting smarter and more advanced, and with the popularity and hype surrounding the iPhone, a virus just had to be in the cards. And that's exactly what been released. But, breathe easy: if you're one of the vast majority of iPhone users who haven't unlocked your phone, you aren't susceptible to a virus -- at least not yet.

The virus is what's called a trojan, something that pretends to be something else to get you to install it. According to Macworld UK, this virus pretends to be an update to Erica's iPhone Utilities, a popular suite of tools for those who have unlocked their phone, enabling them to install whatever they like. This means, of course, that if your phone isn't unlocked you couldn't install the app anyway, so no virus worries for you.

As viruses go this one isn't a particularly bad one. If you're infected your iPhone will just show the text "shoes" rather frequently. Go to uninstall it, though, and it'll wipe out the installation of many of your system applications.

The kicker is: the thing was apparently written by an 11-year-old, making us wonder what will happen when a serious malicious developer decides to try his hand at killing some iPhones.

From textually.org and Macworld UK

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Tags: iPhone, Trojan, Virus

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