Discovered - first iPhone spyware

By Victor Ng | Dec 19, 2008

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It wasn't until recently - January 2008, to be exact, if memory doesn't fail me - that iPhone users encountered malware issues. Now, F-Secure Security Response Labs has reported the first known instance of iPhone spyware.

Called Mobile Spy, this piece of commercial software sells for US$99 a year.

Acording to F-Secure, Mobile Spy targets iPhone 3G users. It can secretly record all incoming or outgoing SMS messages, as well as the call history of any iPhone it's installed on.

This information is then uploaded to a remote server at various intervals, to be viewed via any Internet-connected device (PC or mobile) with a web browser.

Chia Wing Fei, Security Response Manager at F-Secure, said: "We have seen commercial smartphone spyware for Windows Mobile and Symbian operating system for years. However, Mobile Spy is the first spyware targeting Apple's iPhone."

"This doesn't use an exploit or a vulnerability. You won't get it from a drive-by-download or an e-mail," says Fei. "It requires a certain amount of work and physical access to the device to make this happen."

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