The iPhone botnet, coming soon to an over-priced phone near you

Originally Posted by yahoo news

Hackers could take over your iPhone, according to security researchers who say Apple is aware of the problem.

And the method is chillingly simple - a text message containing one square character .

Charlie Miller and Collin Mulliner say they have found a flaw in the way the phones handle text messages, which could allow hackers complete control of the handset.

The hack would come in the form of a burst of SMS messages which contain a single character.

They would let the hacker control dialling the phone, visiting websites, the phone's camera and also sending texts to other iPhones, allowing control of them as well.

Mr Miller said: "This is serious. The only thing you can do to prevent it is turn off your phone.

"Someone could pretty quickly take over every iPhone in the world with this."

Mr Mulliner told Sky News Online: "In the business world this could have high value, if you could stop decision makers making or receiving phone calls.

"Mobile security is really taking off so we are just the first to discover this bug. There is no way this would have stayed secret."

Mr Miller will reveal the flaw in the Apple phone during a speech to the Black Hat cybersecurity conference today.

He claims to have told Apple about the potential bug over a month ago, but the company still hasn't released a patch to combat the potential hacks.

[ HP (Sauce) ]

As well as further proof that the iPhone is one of the worst pieces of consumer electronics ever to be jizzed over by badly informed idiots, this raises the interesting point that as phones become more and more like computers, what steps are people taking to safeguard them?

I'm sure none of us would dream of running a PC without some form of virus protection and probably a firewall and yet your phone probably contains more important confidential information than your PC does, or at least a similar level. Most people I imagine rely on the in-built security systems in their phones but as demonstrated here, this makes it really easy, once hackers have cracked the system to attack thousands of people at once.

Do you worry about the e-security of your phone at all? Have you taken any steps to improve it (Can you even get virus killers for phones?) or is it not something that's even crossed your mind before. Oh yeah, and if you own an iPhone, why?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Maybe I'm off the mark, but aren't cell phones/plans in Europe and Asia much better in terms of service and features? It depends on what you're using it for, but for me, the iPhone has everything I'm looking for in a size that I can easily carry around with me. I'm not an Apple person by any means, and I think they greatly overprice their products, but so far no one has put everything together in one package quite as well. It's not perfect, but I have no regrets about buying one.

As far as security, no, I haven't thought about that at all. Given this bit about text messaging, I really ought to call AT&T and block that feature on my phone. Yes, I'm an old coot who thinks text messaging is pointless, don't get me started.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

If all you want from a phone is to make phone calls then the iPhone is fine, especially if you like the apps (Which are the one redeeming feature). Of course, you can install similar stuff on any phone these days but the app store makes it a really easy process. The iPhone also becomes much better once you jailbreak it as there are some really good unlicensed apps floating around but again, you can install similar things on any phone without the need to install custom firmware which means you don't need to panic each time iTunes decides to upgrade itself. My problem with the iPhone is that features-wise it does practically nothing. At least with the last release they finally caught up to what most phones could do five years ago but they're still expecting people to fork out £300 for one whereas all other phones are free. I have no doubt that in a few years time the iPhone will actually be a really decent bit of kit and worth getting but at the moment, it's a touchscreen version of a phone from the 90's.

I think you're right to some extent about phones being not necessarily more advanced over here but certainly more widely used for their non-phone features. People don't ring each other anymore, they text or email or message over Facebook, all using their phone. Nobody carries a camera except for special occasions as every phone has a decent one and that's just casual users. Nerdier types who actually know what they're doing do all kinds of silly shit with Blackberries and even I managed to get Quake running on my Nokia. I think part of the iPhone's problem was it was designed by people with the mindset of a phone being for calling people and imagine what other cool stuff we could do, not realising perhaps that Nokia, Sony and LG have been letting people do those things for a long, long time already.

Anyway, I wasn't really looking to bash the iPhone here. I know that a lot of people like it because they simply don't need to do any more than it offers and most people aren't as into phones as, well, me and aren't perhaps aware of how redundant most of it's features are, probably because other manufacturers don't consider them exciting enough features to bother advertising (An ad about copy and paste functions? Come on Apple, Nokia 8310's could do that in 1996).

I've been increasingly concerned about cyber-attacks on my phone for a while now because of the amount of time it spends connected to the internet and with the bluetooth activated. When I get the N97 in October it'll be constantly online so I'm hoping it's got some hefty firewall built in or, there'll be something I can install to protect it because I'd really rather not have it accessed by other people or used as part of a botnet or whatever. I think the technology is advancing faster than the security and with more and more slightly naive people getting internet access in their pockets, the capacity for wide scale attacks seems rather frightening really.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

About the only thing my phone does (aside from the usual built in stuff like calender/calculator/music/etc.,) is make calls and send text messages, and when I had internet on it, it was a slow WAP based 'browser', aka 5kb a second. I don't have it any longer, because welll... 5kb a second or something along those lines is just way too slow.... and I didn't use it enough.

So, anyone wanting to 'Hack' my phone is gonna be hard pressed when its such an old model by now (but hey, free!), so in an odd way, its more secure then the iPhone.

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Quote:

I'm sure none of us would dream of running a PC without some form of virus protection and probably a firewall

I can't tell if you're being serious here or not.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by nuttyturnip

As far as security, no, I haven't thought about that at all. Given this bit about text messaging, I really ought to call AT&T and block that feature on my phone. Yes, I'm an old coot who thinks text messaging is pointless, don't get me started.

I can't prop this statement hard enough.

I am of the same opinion who believes that text messaging is one of the most over-used pointless applications a phone could have. I believe it has created a new rudeness in people especially when people have the gall to text in a movie theater while the movie is playing, or even text messaging during a live performance during a comedy club (But that's just my personal opinion, as I'm sure a lot of members here text, that aren't rude).

I have only ever owned one cell phone in my entire life. It is the one that I use for work, and that is the only time I ever want to own a cell phone is just for work. The phone I have is a Motorola Mike I580, and I only use that phone to make calls. I don't text and I don't use the camera on that phone either.

This security breach is not really surprising because as with any new piece of technology there will always be those select people that will find ways to hack it.

I'm not really worried about the e-security of my phone because frankly my phone is only used to make phone calls and I never use it for the internet. I don't see myself having to upgrade the e-security on my phone unless I'm provided with a more advanced phone or blackberry then I have no other choice. Until that time, I'm perfectly happy with the cell phone I have for work, and frankly I don't need a personal cell phone anyway.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Shin

The iPhone botnet, coming soon to an over-priced phone near you

Originally Posted by Shin

As well as further proof that the iPhone is one of the worst pieces of consumer electronics ever to be jizzed over by badly informed idiots

Originally Posted by Shin

Anyway, I wasn't really looking to bash the iPhone here.

lol

The main reason I own an iPhone is because I'm a badly informed idiot. I didn't take the time to research what would be the most convenient option for me, and instead proceeded to buy whatever dumb, poorly-conceived products that Apple has constantly let me down with over my many years of unhappily using their products. I bought it because it's what all the trendy hipsters are doing here in New York, and being rather new to this city at the time, I figured I needed something to help me fit in. Thankfully, Apple heard the cries of a social reject in need and made a phone that catered to my idiotic notions of what makes a phone good.


Alright, in all seriousness, the iPhone is a great piece of technology. The only shitty thing about it, really, is AT&T. It would be great if you could get the phone unlocked, but that's just the way it is. Many carriers have exclusive phones and this is no different. Hopefully when the exclusivity deal ends I can get back on Verizon, but for now, AT&T will do.

I love my iPhone because as a Mac user with a MobileMe, it syncs up with everything extremely easily. There's pretty much nothing to it, and that's just what I like about it. I don't care to spend a lot of time syncing up my music, calendars, and contacts, so just being able to plug it in is a great thing for me.

I also love how flawlessly they've integrated the iPod and the phone together. When I first flirted with the idea of getting an iPhone, I'm pretty sure Shin and lurker said I should just get a Blackberry and keep the iPod because doing otherwise would make me an idiot (I'm paraphrasing). Well I'm glad I never went down that road. They've integrated the technology beautifully. When I'm listening to music and a call comes in, the song fades down nicely and I pick up the phone. Then when the call ends, the song fades back up. It's elegant and it works real nicely. It's nice to have one small object in my pocket that does both things instead of two products, and if I were to get a call, not having to fumble around pausing my music and taking off my headphones and taking out the Blackberry and hitting the talk button and then ending the call and then putting the phone back in my pocket and then putting on my headphones and then hitting play again.

It's the little things that make the iPhone great. The usability is flawless. The UI is simple, elegant, and it works like all Apple apps tend to do. The apps are excellent. Some of them are fun, and some of them are incredibly useful. Spotlight is a nice new feature to the 3.0 software, as is undo and copy/paste. Yes, I've heard it a billion times, it's been in other phones before. But has it ever been integrated so nicely?

So it can't run multiple apps. Big deal. It runs the iPod in the background and that's all I (or most people) really need. So it didn't have Push for a while. Again, big deal. Push is only a necessity in an office environment and they've only recently began selling it as such, and even then, do you really think it will compete with Blackberry in the office environment? No, so who cares.

It's not a perfect phone, but it's miles from being a bad phone either, and a majority of its users aren't the ejaculating morons you'd like to think they are.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Angel Of Light

I am of the same opinion who believes that text messaging is one of the most over-used pointless applications a phone could have.

Lemme just stop you right there. How is it consistent in your mind that something can be over used and pointless? That is to say, why do you think that some wildly popular functionality serves no function at all?

You're old.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Exactly what can you do with text messaging that can't be accomplished via 1) email 2) instant messaging or 3) using the damn phone for its intended purpose?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by nuttyturnip

Exactly what can you do with text messaging that can't be accomplished via 1) email 2) instant messaging or 3) using the damn phone for its intended purpose?

Well the obvious benefits of texting over email/IM is that you don't need to be tied to a computer to do it.

As for texting rather than calling, it's just easier sometimes to text small bits of information instead of calling. If I'm at a bar I could just text "3rd and St. Marks" instead of picking up the phone, calling, hearing the phone ring, and then shouting into the phone while I barely struggle to hear him the person on the other end.

And I mean, that's just one example. Texting is mainly used for small bits of info whereas a phone call is good for a conversation. Since phone calls are mostly used for small bits of info, texting is a suitable replacement.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by sprouticus

Alright, in all seriousness, the iPhone is a great piece of technology. The only shitty thing about it, really, is AT&T. It would be great if you could get the phone unlocked

I didn't set out to make an iPhone bashing thread, I honestly didn't, it's just the very thought of them puts me in a bashing mood!

You know, it is incredibly easy to unlock an iPhone for multiple networks. I'm surprised they still sell them locked at all because the ones you get over here are all multi-network. I guess Apple realised they'd get more cash selling them for use on any network then they would from an exclusivity agreement with O2. Of course, the first generations' silly Edge connectivity meant you could only use it on O2 but now they've put modern 3G technology in them, it's open season. But yeah, Unlocking an iPhone is easier than cracking a DS or PSP and that's a fairly common thing here so I would have assumed most GFF members with an iPhone would have jailbroken it by now.

Like I said (Even if it was hidden behind the trolling), the iPhone is fine if all you want to do is make phone calls and play with the Apps, in fact it's great for that but I think people are silly to pay for them when you can get literally every other phone there is for free with a contract with a minimum of bargaining (Go into any shop, ask if they'll give you the handset for free, if they say no tell them that their competitor down the road said they would, walk out with a free phone) and just about everything the iPhone does is done better by something else. It's a jack-of-all-trades phone which more so than any other Apple product, is a victory of style over substance.

All phones come with software to integrate your phone with a computer. Blackberry synch is exceptionally quick and completely painless and I'm pretty sure the latest Nokia software integrates your phone with iTunes and Windows Media Player if you want it to (Not installed the latest software yet but will this weekend once Nicola's new E71 is activated. Awesome phone, Nokia's version of the Blackberry essentially). Personally I'd never use a phone as a music player because it'd reduce the battery life so badly and the iPhone wouldn't be viable because Apple's constant efforts to stop people hacking them mean synching with iTunes is asking to have your custom firmware overwritten.

I think the whole texting thing is a cultural difference. It just didn't catch on in America like it did everywhere else in the world. Maybe Americans stay at home more than the rest of us?

What you can achieve with a text that you couldn't up until recently with an email was sending it when you're not at a computer. Texts are also handy if a phone call would be inappropriate, in a lesson at school for example or at the cinema or a gig or in a noisy pub. Of course now emails and texts are essentially the same thing thanks to phones doing both but their validity still stands. Over the years it has simply become the default way of communicating over here. You send someone an email and you have to wait for them to be at a computer to check it before you get an answer. Send them a text and they'll get it straight away. You could ring them and normally I would but if there's no answer, you know a text message is the quickest way to get a response.

You have to bear in mind that a lot of people around the world go places other than in front of their computer screens and like to be able to stay in touch with each other. I know it's a difficult and possibly frightening concept for some of you but it really does happen, I've seen it.

How ya doing, buddy?

Texting's great attraction is price, though ever since I got old, I gained a preference to calling. Nothing conveys information as succinctly as a one-minute phone call - not even twelve or so SMS messages. Plus, you don't have a "read receive" feature for SMS, creating plausible deniability. There's no such excuse for calling.

Shin, if the other guy's not answering your calls, what makes you think he's reading your text?

(By the way, I come from a self-professed world texting capital. In 2008, 50 million subscribers sent 1.39 billion text messages.)

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Texting is fucking STUPID. There is nothing more infuriating than trying to have a personal conversation with someone only to have that asshole glancing down at his big gay cell phone to see what his shit-eating friend has to say about whatever stupid thing.

You can argue that not everyone who has a cellphone and uses it for texting purposes does that, but everyone here who has a text-capable phone has done the above ATLEAST once.

It's an unnecessary distraction and useless addition to a technology that really just needs to stay simple. PHONE CALLS. That is all you EVER NEED A PHONE FOR.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by nuttyturnip

Exactly what can you do with text messaging that can't be accomplished via 1) email 2) instant messaging or 3) using the damn phone for its intended purpose?

What does that have to do with anything? I was asking why you elderly gentlemen think a widely-used function of phones is useless. Since I pay attention to the world around me I can tell you why I think they're useful, but I want to know by what reasoning you came to the conclusion to ditch all observational evidence to the contrary.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by a lurker

I was asking why you elderly gentlemen think a widely-used function of phones is useless. Since I pay attention to the world around me I can tell you why I think they're useful, but I want to know by what reasoning you came to the conclusion to ditch all observational evidence to the contrary.

The word used was "pointless", not "useless". There's a use there, sure, but why would you do it when you could just pick up the phone and call? Sprout's example is valid, but as far as I know, the vast majority of texting works out to be the same as an IM conversation, except you're paying for each message. In the US at least, you have to pay extra for the privilege of texting (20 cents per message for me since I have no plan, but at least $5 a month for the minimum plan). Why pay extra to communicate in a more cumbersome way than the one that's already included in your cell phone plan?

If you're texting on a standard non-data phone, then you have to type out words via the numeric keypad, which has to be freaking annoying unless you're a wiz. If you have a phone with a keyboard, then you've already got a data/internet plan, so you might as well send an email.

FELIPE NO

Quote:

Like I said (Even if it was hidden behind the trolling), the iPhone is fine if all you want to do is make phone calls and play with the Apps, in fact it's great for that but I think people are silly to pay for them when you can get literally every other phone there is for free with a contract with a minimum of bargaining

You go on about these magical free phones that exist somewhere but in America you'll never find them. Anywhere.

Quote:

and just about everything the iPhone does is done better by something else. It's a jack-of-all-trades phone which more so than any other Apple product, is a victory of style over substance.

I mean... You're just wrong here. There are some things the competitors have over the iPhone (push notification, camera [and even then the new 3GS has a nice camera], physical keyboard) but in general the iPhone out-performs many phones in all the important areas. What phone has tighter integration with your computer? Which phone has such an intuitive UI? What phone has seamless media playback with the phone features? Which touchscreen keyboard even remotely comes close to the iPhone's? Which phone has a search engine like Spotlight? Which phone has as robust an app store? Which phone is as aesthetically pleasing?

Quote:

All phones come with software to integrate your phone with a computer. Blackberry synch is exceptionally quick and completely painless and I'm pretty sure the latest Nokia software integrates your phone with iTunes and Windows Media Player if you want it to (Not installed the latest software yet but will this weekend once Nicola's new E71 is activated. Awesome phone, Nokia's version of the Blackberry essentially).

Yeah but who wants to install additional software? If you use a Mac, the iPhone works with what you have and that's it. If any of that third-party shit works well on a a Mac I'd be surprised anyway, since most third party drivers are broken as fuck.

Quote:

Personally I'd never use a phone as a music player because it'd reduce the battery life so badly and the iPhone wouldn't be viable because Apple's constant efforts to stop people hacking them mean synching with iTunes is asking to have your custom firmware overwritten.

My iPhone can last 2 work days for me without needing a recharge, which includes over 2 1/2 hours of music a day (commute to and from work and gym), plus staying on to receive calls. I charge it every night so it's never a problem anyway, but in the event I sleep over my girlfriend's and forget my charger, I'm fine for another day.

Quote:

I think the whole texting thing is a cultural difference. It just didn't catch on in America like it did everywhere else in the world. Maybe Americans stay at home more than the rest of us?

I dunno man. Texting is pretty rampant here among young people.

Quote:

Texts are also handy if a phone call would be inappropriate, in a lesson at school for example or at the cinema

Spoiler:

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Like I said, it's a cultural difference and as such, you're never going to understand where I'm coming from any more than I do you. I wasn't aware that you still had to pay for phones in America. Over here, the iPhone is the only phone you can't get free. Likewise, all contracts these days come with a text allowance or even more common now, completely free text messages. I think Nicola's most recent contract is 500 minutes of calls a month and completely free texting and data useage for £25 a month. Nutty reckons using a keypad is cumbersome but most people I know can probably text as fast as they type, especially with predictive text and auto-complete. Again, it's a cultural thing, everyone's been sending that many text messages for the last 10 years it becomes second nature. I can write a text accurately one handed without taking my phone out of my pocket if need be (Although finding the right address might be a little risky without looking) and I'm far from out of the ordinary.

If taking two minutes a year to install software is such a burden then yes, I imagine that using an iPhone is great, except the software it chooses to integrate with is iTunes so you're waiting that long for the thing to load up and tell you there's yet another new version to download each time you want to use it.

Your other points are all personal preference of course. I prefer Google to Searchlight, I really like the Nokia user interface and asking which has the better touch screen keyboard is like asking whose shit smells nicer, they all fucking stink. If your iPhone lasts that long then you're either very lucky or don't use it much, nobody I know gets much more than a day out of theirs even without using the music player.

At the end of the day, your list of things that are great about the iPhone are pretty much backing up my initial argument. If you want something pretty with novelty features that's easy to use, get an iPhone. If you want a phone for serious business use or as a genuine computer-in-your-pocket, get a phone that does that instead. The iPhone does a lot of things ok, nothing brilliantly. The Blackberry is an infinitely superior business phone and all the latest offerings from Nokia, LG and Sony are better smart phones, albeit a little less immediately accessible. As a matter of opinion, I think other phones look nicer too but if carrying a half brick shaped like a universal remote around with you is your thing then knock yourself out.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by nuttyturnip

The word used was "pointless", not "useless". There's a use there, sure, but why would you do it when you could just pick up the phone and call? Sprout's example is valid, but as far as I know, the vast majority of texting works out to be the same as an IM conversation, except you're paying for each message. In the US at least, you have to pay extra for the privilege of texting (20 cents per message for me since I have no plan, but at least $5 a month for the minimum plan). Why pay extra to communicate in a more cumbersome way than the one that's already included in your cell phone plan?

If you're texting on a standard non-data phone, then you have to type out words via the numeric keypad, which has to be freaking annoying unless you're a wiz. If you have a phone with a keyboard, then you've already got a data/internet plan, so you might as well send an email.

For quick things, text messages are excellent. If I go to a club and want to meet up with some friends, a call would be impossible, so texting is just an easy way to find someone. I personally am much more annoyed by people who keep jabbering loudly on the phone, and I hardly see a problem with people texting in the cinema or a comedy club,which seems to be a big issue for Angel for some weird reason, would you rather have phones ringing with the most annoying tunes followed by moronic conversation?

Texting in Europe is dirt cheap, I mainly work with prepaid cards and a text costs me something like 2-3 eurocents, so even at 20 texts a day I'm still cheaper off than calling everytime. But most of the time you get free texts when you put some new money on your cellphone (something like 1000 texts here), so you'd be a fool not to use them. The issue of a numeric keypad is actually not a problem, as it has been only fairly recent that input methods that actually work nicely have been introduced. The crappy phones that seemed to be popular in the US before smartphones looked like hideous bricks, and just plain sucked. I have been texting with a numeric pad for ten years, as have most people around Europe, so it's just a silly US thing I guess.

Edit: Shin beat me to it.

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Originally Posted by nuttyturnip

The word used was "pointless", not "useless".

Functionally your argument is the same whether 'pointless' or 'useless' is used. We're talking about the objectives people achieve by texting; it is ludicrous to say that something is over-used as well as pointless in this regard.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

So let me get this straight.

Shin thinks the IPhone is stupid.

Shin also gave me an infraction for posting a SFW picture as a reply on GFF.

Gentlemen, I give you the devil in these affairs...

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Yes, I can hide it no longer, my dislike for over-priced electronics with limited functionality and my strivance to make threads contain discussion rather than short statements are all symptomatic of my being spawn of the underworld. My secret is out. If you guess my name, LeHah, you win a prize.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Peter

I hardly see a problem with people texting in the cinema or a comedy club,which seems to be a big issue for Angel for some weird reason, would you rather have phones ringing with the most annoying tunes followed by moronic conversation?

Texting/checking email in the movies bothers people because the screen lights up in a dark room, and is a distraction. It doesn't bother me, but a columnist in the Washington Post wrote about it last month, and Tritoch has told me it bugs him. Not as distracting as talking on the phone during a movie, but if you've paid money to see a film, can't you just switch off your phone for a few hours?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I agree that the lights from phone screens can be a distraction in a cinema (So I use the low backlight mode if I'm in one and actually, very rarely use my phone in a cinema) but don't people in the US shout at the screen and clap during films anyway or is that just a Hollywood fallacy? I'd find that infinitely more annoying than a couple of people texting.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by nuttyturnip

Texting/checking email in the movies bothers people because the screen lights up in a dark room, and is a distraction. It doesn't bother me, but a columnist in the Washington Post wrote about it last month, and Tritoch has told me it bugs him. Not as distracting as talking on the phone during a movie, but if you've paid money to see a film, can't you just switch off your phone for a few hours?

It would be a problem if you have dozens of screens lighting up, but most of the time you just see a square cm of a light, and if you are distracted and annoyed by something as tiny as that, it's probably your limited attention span that is to blame. I don't know about the US, but here seats are high enough so that you can't even see the person in front of you, let alone their phone. I'm much more annoyed by people commenting the movie while watching it, or clapping when something happens (no idea where it comes from but it is an awful habit that has been showing up here over the past years).

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Shin

I agree that the lights from phone screens can be a distraction in a cinema (So I use the low backlight mode if I'm in one and actually, very rarely use my phone in a cinema) but don't people in the US shout at the screen and clap during films anyway or is that just a Hollywood fallacy? I'd find that infinitely more annoying than a couple of people texting.

It's exaggerated, but it happens in certain neighborhoods. People are quiet where I go to see movies, but the stereotype of black people yelling at movies isn't without merit.

Jam it back in, in the dark.