By Andy Greenberg 08.01.14
"A reminder to Apple and smug iPhone owners: Just because iOS has never been the victim of a widespread malware outbreak doesn’t mean mass iPhone hacking isn’t still possible. Now one group of security researchers plans to show how to enslave an entire botnet of Apple gadgets through a perennial weak point—their connection to vulnerable Windows PCs.
In a study they will reveal next week, Georgia Tech researchers have assembled the pieces needed to build a fully-controlled collection of hacked iOS devices despite Apple’s airtight restrictions on software installed on iPhones and iPads. The researchers haven’t just created a full, working exploit for the mobile operating system. They’ve also identified a large slice of malware-infected Windows machines—around 23 percent of those they tested—that regularly connect to iOS devices and could easily be used to deliver the attack. And they say that blueprint for an iPhone botnet should serve as a warning to Apple that despite its devices’ vaunted security, it could do much more to fix iOS’s hackable vulnerabilities faster."
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