Wirelurker is the iPhone's first serious malware threat
iPhone users are usually considered safe from malware, but a new report from Palo Alto Networks suggests that reputation may be about to change. Palo Alto's researchers have discovered a bug called Wirelurker, which the company says may have already impacted hundreds of thousands of users. The bug is primarily spreading through the Maiyadi App Store, a third-party source for OS X software in China, and researchers estimated the infected apps have been downloaded 356,104 times already. Once the computer is infected, Wirelurker spreads to iOS devices that connect over USB, rewriting existing programs on the device through binary file replacement. It's the first such bug that can infect iPhones that haven't been jailbroken, and according to Palo Alto Networks, it's also the first bug discovered in the wild that can turn legitimate iOS apps into malware without downloading additional software.
- November 06
