Apple’s much hyped mobile handset the iPhone has come once again in the news because of a flaw in its web dialer. This fault may allow hacking the users mobile and the hacker can even track the user’s calls.
On 16th July Billy Hoffman, SPI Labs security research mentioned in the company blog that dialing numbers displayed on the web page by touching the digits on-screen could give way to hackers to access users phone.
Another way through which web browser the Safari can put users in danger is cross-site scripting attacks. Hackers could infect the device, track calls and also can program the phone to place unauthorized calls from the browser or to make repeated calls for an infinite amount of time. They can even stop the phones from calling at all.
Hoffman further stated that iPhone’s manufacturer Apple has been informed about this error and also it is indicated that SPI Labs and Apple are working together to fix the issue. However, there is no official statement recorded from Apple.
Also Hoffman has advised iPhone users to not to use Safari browser to dial numbers directly from the webpage until Apple fixes the problem.
Hopefully Apple finds a good solution to this flaw very soon.
Oh pleeaase….by the looks of the photo and the headline you would expect this to be a massive problem. This kind of journalism/blogging does nothing to inform…..
Oh my word. I bought an iPhone last week. It is the first Apple product I have ever owned, but the commericals made it look so good.
It was a treat I had saved up for over the past 6 months, forgoing getting my tips frosted and cutting back on expensive candies from Target.
Should I stop clicking on phone numbers through the browser? I do not want to infect my phone. Thank you for such a thorough article! I hope Apple fixes this soon!!!!
Don’t worry about it. It’s a small technical issue in the new use of Web 2.0 browser dialers, and will be corrected in an Apple update.
Apple is leading the way in what many consider a major future development which will be better for consumers for cost, safety and stability…web-based applications.
Don’t get upset about “hackers could”…in any Microsoft, Palm, or Symbian system which are open to any third party developers, hackers “could” do similar things. This is a transitory and tiny issue, not worth worrying about.