Nearly a quarter million Apple accounts comprompised by malware
Rooting and jailbreaking come with risks, and unfortunately more than 225,000 jailbroken iOS users data has so far been compromised by a malware named KeyRaider that runs on jailbroken devices.
KeyRaider transmits all the useful information it can grab to hackers who can then pretty much do whatever they want with the account.
According to CNN Money some hackers have created software that lets third parties purchase iTunes apps by using the victim’s accounts, and you can download that software if you know where to find it.
Some report their phones have been locked and there are demands on the phone for a ransom to return functionality.
What’s important to remember is this malware only runs on jailbroken iPhones, and only installs if you download and run the program. Most of the hacks have occurred in China as well.
Hopefully Apple will follow Google’s lead and keep opening up the OS so you don’t have to jailbreak/root in order to do the things people want to do. For the longest time I only jailbroke because I wanted to run f.lux on my iPad and the OS didn’t allow for one app to tint over another.
I’m betting the story will somehow spin from unsuspecting people hacked to pirates getting what they deserve or whatever narrative will support locking down the devices further and yelling the dangers of rooting.
To clarify, this is something that you have to download and run after you’ve gone to great lengths to remove security protections on your Apple device. This isn’t something to worry about for the average iDevice users, nor is it a reflection of the manufacturers security or the jailbreaking/root community.
[CNN Money]
