Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) plans a software update for its iPhone and iPads which will remove a shortcoming that allows hackers to perform spying and cyber crimes when a user connects the device to a fake charging station. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) devices will be prone to these attacks until it comes up with the iOS 7 software update, which is expected this fall, according to a report from Reuters.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) assures us that the problem has been resolved in its latest beta of iOS7, which has been turned over to software developers.
“We would like to thank the researchers for their valuable input,” Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) spokesman Tom Neumayr said.
Apple was warned a year earlier
At the Black Hat Hacking convention in Las Vegas, three computer scientists warned Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) of possible security issues. Billy Lau, a research scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and graduate students Yeongjin Jang and Chengyu Song demonstrated the breach. A computed virus was ported into a phone designed to dial a researcher’s phone number.
iPhone can be turned into a spying tool
The exposed virus can possibly take screen shots for stealing banking passwords and credit card numbers. The hackers can also access emails, texts and phone numbers, and even know the location of the phone owner.
“It can become a spying tool,” said Lau.
Lau said that they were revealing this problem in the spirit of “white hat” hacking, hoping to design a security bug that can save users from being hacked before criminals exploit them.
“Security doesn’t work if you bury problems,” Lau told Reuters on the sidelines of the press conference.
Android users safe
According to Lau, devices equipped with Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s Android operating system do not pose any such issue because they notify the user if they link their device into a computer.
A message will notify the user that they are linking to a computer and not just a charger after Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iOS 7 software update.
