iPhone News Updated

Jailbreaking iPhone could pose threat to national security, Apple claims

I just got my new iPhone 3GS the other day and the first thing I did with it was get it jailbroken, just how I handled my iPhone 3G.

This time around, it was not really because I was in dire need of any extra functionality (the 3GS now can do video recording out of the box, which my 3G could only do when jailbroken). Most importantly, I wanted to feel like I could do anything with a device I paid almost $600 for (I couldn’t wait until December to be qualified for the discount upgrade).

Little did I know what would constitute “anything” in this case.

Apparently, as Apple claimed via comments filed last week (PDF) I, and my newly freed phone, could be the culprit for AT&T network unreliability and even more seriously, when disgruntled, I could use it as a weapon of mass wireless disruption by taking down AT&T wireless towers. (OK, honestly this revelation makes me feel kind of powerful.)

First reported by Wired.com, Apple’s comments explained that jailbreaking allows hackers to alter the phone’s baseband processor (officially called the BBP chip), which is the chip that enables the phone to connect to cell towers.

(A personal note: The only purpose of altering of the chip, via software or the hard way, I’ve known of so far is to unlock the phone, which allows it to work with other carriers other than AT&T. Jailbreaking doesn’t necessarily mean unlocking and therefore is very much risk-free.)

Apple stated in its filing that by changing the BBP’s code, “More pernicious forms of activity may also be enabled. For example, a local or international hacker could potentially initiate commands (such as a denial-of-service attack) that could crash the tower software, rendering the tower entirely inoperable to process calls or transmit data. In short, taking control of the BBP software would be much the equivalent of getting inside the firewall of a corporate computer–to potentially catastrophic result.”
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Hi, I’m a PC. Hi, I’m an iPhone Virus

Those annoying (not if you are a MAC user) ads - I’m a Mac, I’m a PC ads are about to take a turn.

An iPhone’s SMS system seems to be vulnerable and now may have been exploited. There is word on the street that about a possible virus which could be infecting the device.

A customer walked into a GeekSquad store in Texas receiving a prompt on his screen which wouldnt allow Safari to be closed.

Apple thinks the issue was caused by jailbreaking the iPhone.

The Bible has instructions for iPhones with viruses.

Leviticus 13:46 - “As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp.”

[Thanks: http://www.examiner.com]