iPhone Trojan Horse Malware First Discovered in 2008

iPhone Trojan Horse Malware First Discovered in 2008. It looks like an 11-year old kid decided to kick off the new year with his very own piece of iPhone malware. The package - more of a prank than a threat - poses as an "important system" upgrade supposedly needed prior to upgrading to version 1.1.3 of Apple's firmware. The "iPhone firmware 1.1.3 prep" seems to lack malicious purpose. Problems kick in when users try to uninstall the package.

The iPhone Trojan sneaks in through jailbroken iPhones’ Installer.app and starts deleting files from your iPhone’s /var/root/bin directory upon uninstallation. Beware any Installer.app posing as “113 prep,” an update to “Erica’s Utilities.” Apparently, all the app does is display the prompt “shoes” and nothing else. And, as we just mentioned, it deletes system files when you try to uninstall the little bugger.

This little trojan just shows all iPhone users to stay wary of unknown applications that you install through the popular Installer.app application. The next piece of malware may come from a more skilled code-writer hell-bent on messin’ with iPhone owners.

According to Symantec, those affected should uninstall “113 prep” and then reinstall the broken applications - no lasting damage to the iPhone has been reported. “This is technically the first Trojan horse seen for the iPhone; however, it does appear to be more of a prank than an actual threat. The impact of uninstalling the ‘Trojan’ would appear to be an unintended side effect” Orla Cox, Symantec researcher.

Removing the app damages a pile of programs in the iPhone's bin folder like Erica's Utilities, OpenSSH, Doom, and Launcher, though you can sort it by simply re-installing. The site distributing the malware has now been taken down, meaning future infections are unlikely. We would think Apple likely to use the situation to justify their supposed push for digitally-signed software once the iPhone SDK is released next month.