The first, but not the last, iPhone virus

The world's first piece of iPhone specific malware has targetted 'jailbroken' iPhones that also have SSH software installed and have not changed Apple's default root password of "alpine." These iPhones have fallen prey to the 'ikee' worm which shows a picture of Rick Astley as new wallpaper and displays the message "ikee is never going to give you up," a variation on 'Rickrolling'

It seems that the ikee malware, once installed, searches the mobile phone network for other vulnerable iPhones and when it finds one, copies itself to them using the the default password and SSH


It seems that the ikee worm is only infecting Australian iPhones and the infection does no more than spread the Rick Astely message but as the knowledge that this is possible to do spreads, others will follow suit. So the advice to all iPhone users who have 'jailbroken' iPhones is to change the password now.

If you want to change your password from 'alpine' then Google away - change iphone password alpine - for instructions. I am not an iPhone user and so cannot vouch for the reliability of any of the instructions that you find.