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iPhone Hack to be Patched

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The Independent Security Evaluators team not only found a security flaw in the iPhone and not only contacted Apple with details of the flaw on 17 July but also sent along instructions in how to patch it, revealed Johns Hopkins computer science professor Avi Rubin on his blog today.

'We promised not to release any specific technical details of the vulnerability that would allow someone else to exploit it until our Black Hat presentation on August 2. This gave them plenty of time to produce a fix, and we showed Apple how to patch the vulnerability', wrote Rubin.

Serious Risks

'By exposing these vulnerabilities, we can make users better judges of how to use their high tech devices. In addition, vendors are much more likely to produce devices that are more secure if they know that independent security experts such as my team at ISE are likely to try to break them and to expose any vulnerabilities we find.'

Rubin wasn't entirely happy with his iPhone although he too rushed out to get one.

'Although I still love my iPhone for its beautiful interface, well thought out features, and incredible screen, I'm now disappointed that it was not built more securely.'

Avi Rubin is author of the recently (6 September 2006) released Brave New Ballot: The Battle to Safeguard Democracy in the Age of Electronic Voting. He is perhaps best known for revealing security issues in Diebold voting machines in the run-up to the 2004 presidential elections in the US.

Thanks to Devon at Pixel Groovy for the excellent artwork.