Lab Notes

A Real iPhone Exploit?

A brace of industry pundits has been claiming for months that the iPhone suffers from poor security. Today, the first actual exploit appeared. I haven't verified this myself, but from the (incomplete) description, it seems plausible. "This looks like a very genuine hack," says Steven M. Bellovin, a respected computer security researcher.

The attack requires a user to visit a malicious website. My favorite question from the FAQ: "Could the vulnerability be used to 'unlock' the iPhone from AT&T?" The authors demur, but if it could, the attack might be a blessing in disguise!