Ashley Towns: iPhone Hacker Gets 'Death Threats' For First-Ever iPhone Worm

smh.com.au:

When 21-year-old Ashley Towns released the very first iPhone virus from his home in Wollongong a week ago he was not anticipating death threats, media interviews or job offers.

But he says he got all three in one day after an audacious viral security"experiment" got out of hand, pushing Rick Astley's face onto hundreds of iPhone screens and making headlines around the world.

Read the whole story: smh.com.au

Comments

[AlexFTW]

Scu.m.my little hipster bas.t.erd!

[Leslib]

These kids who think they're so cool developing worms and trojans and viruses need to be prosecuted. Make an example of the little brat. Most people who get a virus on their computers don't have the wherewithall and resources to deal with it. These brats need to see some serious fines. If someone wants to hire one of these bozos with their questionable ethics, go right ahead. I hope they'll see some jail time first, though. Maybe it will make them think twice before inconveniencing the rest of the world just for their little ego rush.

[Dham4201]

This guy should be working for the Department of Defense or the NSA's Cyber defense unit protecting our computers from the Chinese

[brady61995]

jezz kid go get some sun and some friends after you get out of jail.

[JStading]

People who program malware are no better than common criminals; both destroy people's property. I would love to see the state prosecute these people more aggressively. I figure the average damage is roughly $30/iPhone infected (what it generally costs to have these files removed by an "expert"). That's good enough for a petty vandalism charge - multiplied by the number of victims.

The whole virus/spyware pandemic frankly fuels a major service and software industry, so there isn't a great deal of incentive for manufacturers to do anything about it. That being said, consumers are left holding the bag with costly repair bills.

[Cogs]

Brain cancer concerns are a bigger issue.

[tygakor]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wwGl-CXgOA

[SimJack]

If that's what some people try to do to damage the spiritual continuum of the all, have at it. Like peeing one's pants, it's all about and in contact with you. Rub a little Desitin on that blistered Id son and quit projecting yourself into Mike Judge's cartoon story arc.

[Whinger]

Apple - Security Through Obscurity!

[mick7191]

Someone should hire this kid. And I'll take Mac OS X 10.6.1 over ANYTHING Gates writes.

[SteveCampsOut]

Take that all you Apple nutters who say Apple's don't get VirII!

[BushSmahers]

There are not very many users who jail break their iPhones. What you say is utter Krappola.

[Jake the Snake]

Get therapy.

;-)

[tribalogical]

when it hits my regular "still in jail" phone..... then we'll talk.....

[AmberGaze]

Being Rickroll'd is so two years ago.

[GhiaccioPronto]

How To Change the iPhone’s Root Password

http://justanotheriphoneblog.com/wordpress/iphone-tips/how-to-change-the-iphones-root-password

on the other hand WHY would anyone run SSH if they don't know enough to change a password?????

[GhiaccioPronto]

the phones must be jailbroken in order to be affected, and it appears to spread by searching an infected phone's contacts to find other jailbroken-phone users who have

1 installed the Unix software SSH (secure shell)

but

2 haven't yet changed their passwords from Apple's default root password,

"alpine."

the new password is

"airhead"

[epcraig]

I'm impressed. Not as impressed as if it were an Android (even more for a Droid), but I'm, impressed

[GhiaccioPronto]

virus takes advantage of any jailbroken iPhone, or iPod Touch, that has not changed the "root password".

Towns also said he regrets leaving comments inside the bug's source code that taunted iPhone users about leaving their gadgets unprotected by pass codes.

"People are stupid, and this is to prove it so RTFM [Read The F***ing Manual]. It's not that hard [sic] guys. But hey who cares, it's only your bank details at stake," a note inside the code said.