It was only a question of time before hackers and virus makers target the increasingly popular smartphones and personal digital assistants.
RIM, the manufacturer of the popular Blackberry, has warned that the day when hackers use smartphones to bring down mobile networks is nearing.
Scott Totzke, RIM's vice-president of security, has suggested that hackers could assault mobile networks with denial of service attacks launched from smartphones. He claims the technique would only require a relatively small number of smartphones to be effective.
The warning comes as researchers identify increasing numbers of virus-tainted smartphone applications, including versions of Google Maps and computer games. And the first instances of a virus and hacking on the Apple iPhone has been discovered.
The news released by security software maker Sophos of the first security attacks on the iPhone came as no surprise to some observers, though it could have been shocking to some users. Actually Sophos reports on recent two attacks, one of which is dangerous.
The first to be discovered was a virus dubbed the "Ikee worm", which breaks into iPhones, changing their lock screen wallpaper to an image of 1980s pop star Rick Astley with the message: "ikee is never going to give you up". It was created by 21-year-old Ashley Towns, a bored Australian student, who admitted his mischief on Twitter.
However, the virus can only infect users who have "jailbroken" their iPhones in order to allow them to run applications that have not been approved by Apple.
The worm, which appears so far to be confined to Australia, is capable of breaking into jailbroken iPhones if their owners have not changed the default password ("alpine") after installing SSH. Once in place, the worm attempts to find other iPhones on the mobile phone network that are similarly vulnerable, and installs itself again.
Those who get infected need not worry too much. The worm only changes the screen wallpaper. It does not compromise the data, Sophos reassured.
However, last week-end Sophos discovered the "Ikee.B" or "Duh", another iPhone virus designed to connect to a server in Lithuania and to follow orders from remote hackers. The "Duh" worm hunts for vulnerable iPhones on a wider range of IP ranges than Ikee, which was only ever reported in Australia. "Duh" includes IP ranges in several countries, including The Netherlands, Portugal, Australia, Austria, and Hungary.
This does not affect iPhone users who have not jailbroken their iPhone and installed SSH.
i-Tech is aware of several Maltese iPhone users who have jailbroken their handset.
John de Giorgio from Shireburn Software, distributors for Sophos in Malta said: "An interesting feature of this story is that this worm is only able to be successful because most users do not change their default passwords on systems they run. Implementing correct password policies is crucial across the ICT board."
"It should be remembered that breaking into someone else's iPhone and changing their data is against the law," explained Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "This latest iPhone malware is doubly criminal. Not only does it break into your iPhone without permission, but it also cedes control of your phone to a botnet command server in Lithuania. That means your iPhone has just been turned into a zombie, ready to download and to perform any commands the cybercriminals might want in the future. If infected, you have to consider all of the data that passes through your iPhone compromised."
More information about Ikee iPhone virus and hacking is available at www.sophos.com.