Posted 11.03.2009 at 11:30 am
13 Comments
Goedemorgen, You've Been Hacked
via Ars Technica
The media generally portrays hacker as criminals going after law-abiding computer users, but one Dutch hacker has turned his sights on more fertile prey: other less-skilled, or even aspirational hackers. Like a digital stickup boy, he has remotely kidnapped illegally (according to Apple) jailbroken iPhones in the Netherlands, holding them hostage for five Euros.
Jailbreaking an iPhone allows users to install software from sources beyond Apple's App Store. And although the vitality of the jailbreak software ecosystem has dipped significantly now that it is not the only way to install native code on your iPhone, some estimates still place the number of jail-broken devices as high as 10 percent of all iPhones and iPod Touches.
When a user jailbreaks their phone, a password controlling remote access to the phone resets to the generic factory password coded at the factory. Many users forget to redo their password, allowing the Dutch hacker to lock up the phone until the user paid out the five-euro ransom via PayPal.
Whether or not jail breaking the iPhone constitutes a crime has yet to be resolved, but Apple considers it a copyright violation that voids the warranty of the device.
The total number of victims, and the amount of money extorted by the hacker remains unknown.
[via Ars Technica]
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ROFL!!
I guess you could say they had it coming. Though I would be pissed if it happened to me!
"But this should serve as a lesson to anyone looking to alter devices from their factory setting. "
No, no it shouldn't.
@skillet Agreed! Stu (pictured here) is apparently in one of his wacky authoritarian moods. I've cut that sentence. --Ed.
Lol
this could easily be faked though,
I find it funny that the people that did Jailbreak there iphones didnt consider why apple regulates the sofware you can use in the first place.
I would never try to derive profit from something like this because it can be traced so I hope his real genus lies in concealing the flow on money or hired the mob to do that for him because this is just the type of thing that gets retarded hackers cough.
@ animemaster
I don't mean this to be offensive, but if you are gonna call hackers retards, then you should at least spell the consequence correctly.
There's also a reason I don't waste money on Apple... they cant say its windows operating system that are insecure now
all the jailbreakers had to do was change the password to something other then the factory default. weak passwords deserve to be hacked the same way a fool and his money are soon parted.
lnwolf41
This is funny because all I have ever heard is that apple is free of hackers.
also the hacker is just dealing with people that screwed with their own phone so they wouldn't have to pay apple.
karma is a bitch.
Apple products CAN'T get hacked or get virus's! That's IMPOSSIBLE! HOAX!
As greedy as Apple is by trying to get as much money as possible from everything they can get ahold of and by forcing you to go through them for every software, music, or video you want, I would not be surprised if they are the ones behind this.
No one deserves to be hacked. I hope someone follows the money trail and he gets what he deserves.