Letting Your iPhone Trust Random PCs Is a Bad Idea

Exist careful when connecting your iPhone to a random computer. It can actually expose your handset to a sneaky hack.

On Wednesday, researchers at Symantec demonstrated how you lot can secretly spy on an iPhone past exploiting a permission that pops up whenever you lot connect the device to a laptop via a USB cable.

The iPhone volition ask: Do you trust this computer? Clicking yes may not seem like a big deal, but it can actually allow the computer's owner eavesdrop on your iPhone and even load malware in the form of Trojanized apps.

According to Symantec, this tin be washed by exploiting an iTunes characteristic that links a reckoner with an iPhone over a Wi-Fi connection. To enable the function, though, the possessor has to first connect the handset to a computer over a USB cable. They can then share content from the Apple device to some other machine.

In a weblog mail, Symantec researcher Roy Iarchy said hackers with a malware-laden charger or calculator could exploit the aforementioned characteristic to gain access to the data inside the iPhone. The just safeguard protecting the owner from the hack is the permission pop-upward that appears, which clearly states, "Your settings and data volition be attainable from this figurer when connected," if you click trust.

Victims might disregard the warning, and assume in one case their phone is disconnected from the reckoner, the information access volition be cut off. But in reality, the iTunes synching feature can permit a hacker's calculator go along accessing the iPhone as long every bit both devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

Trust This PC? "Now the assailant tin control the device remotely," Iarchy said in his post. With access to the iPhone, the hacker tin can steal data from the device by creating a remote iTunes backup or past replacing existing apps on the iPhone with malicious ones.

Symantec has disclosed the trouble to Apple tree, which chose to fix it by adding another stride in the permission process. When an iPhone connects to a computer, the owner volition now take to blazon in their iPhone'due south passcode when letting a calculator gain access to the data.

A simple way to avoid the hack is to deny the access. Simply press abolish when the permission pops up. Your iPhone should still charge using the computer, without exposing any data. Symantec besides says iPhone owners tin can view what computers the device trusts by going to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Location & Privacy.