iPhone hacked in 20 seconds at the Pwn2Own contest

It's scary to imagine that it only takes approximately 20 seconds to completely get away with stealing some valuable information from an iPhone owner and not have them even know they've been targeted. During the Pwn2Own hacking contest as CanSecWest 2010, two hackers showed off an exploit in the iPhone that literally allowed them to copy SMS messages from the device in a matter of only 20 seconds. The two hackers, Vincenzo Iozzo and Ralf Philipp Weinmann, merely were showcasing the potential flaw in the iPhone that allowed them to steal the entire SMS database that even included all deleted text message and copied directly onto their own server. One things to point out is that the browser crashed on the iPhone during the hijack – which is the one outcome of the hack because they needed to send a target iPhone to site they have set up online in order to be hacked. Obviously they didn't have any malicious intentions when they demoed this off at the event, but it does raise an eye brow anytime you suspect something funky happening on your iPhone.

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via TUAW