iPhone worm creator gets a job, as an iPhone app developer. - Polidicks

[release] The 21-year-old hacker who wrote the first iPhone worm has landed a job developing software for the phones. Ashley Towns wrote Ikee, a self-propagating program that changed the phone's wallpaper to a picture of 80s pop singer Rick Astley. Mr Towns has now been employed as a iPhone application developer for Australian firm mogeneration. Ikee was not malicious but paved the way for a more serious variant which targeted users of the online bank ING. "It leaves a nasty taste that he has been rewarded like this, yet has not even expressed regret for his actions," Graham Cluley of Security firm Sophos told BBC News. Mr Towns said that he had created the virus to raise the issue of security. He has not faced any criminal charges. 'Wild worm' It was designed to exploit jail-broken phones, where a user has removed Apple's protection mechanisms to allow the phone to run any software. Estimates suggest there could be up to 25,000 jailbroken phones in Australia, whilst up to 10% of the more than 55m iPhones and iPod Touches devices sold worldwide are thought to be cracked. It specifically targeted those handsets with SSH (secure shell) installed, a program that enables other devices to connect to the phone and modify the system and files. The worm was able to infect those phones where the owners had not changed the default password after installing SSH. It could be removed by changing the phone's password and deleting some files. After it was found circulating "in the wild", a second worm was discovered. Mr Cluley said it was "based" on Mr Town's code and targeted people in the Netherlands who used their iPhones for internet banking with Dutch online bank ING. The new worm redirects the bank's customers to a lookalike site with a log-in screen. It can also be used to remotely control the phone without the users permission. Analysts said that it was designed with a "clear financial motive". Mr Towns is the latest in a long line of programmers to find employment after a high-profile hack. In 2008, New Zealand computer hacker Owen Thor Walker was hired by a telecommunications company as a security consultant. He had previously pleaded guilty or being part of an organisation that was thought to have caused millions of dollars worth of damage. "We interviewed Ashley, assessed him with our iPhone developer test - which he passed with flying colours - and we employed him today," said a spokesperson for mogeneration. [/release] Picture of the worm [img]http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46693000/jpg/_46693657_-1.jpg[/img] Talk about worming your way into a job.

I can't believe this guy [i]snaked[/i] a job into Apple. Eh, shit happens, and most hackers who get caught end up working as 'security experts'

What an idiot. LOLZ LETZ RIET A VIRUS THAT ONLI INFECTS JAILBROEKN IFONEZ CUZ JAILBRAEKIN IZ ILLEGUL N IT BRAEKS APPLULS SOFTWAER N USERZ CAN UZE IT TU DO BAD STUFFZ :downs: Only in Austrailia would someone think that the above is a smart thing to do.

I bet they are never gonna give him up.

Awesome, this is where companies usually fall on their face. If people can hack the software they you've created, you want those people on [i]your[/i] side.

[QUOTE=w1z;18584821] Only in Austrailia would someone think that the above is a smart thing to do.[/QUOTE] You missed the part where it gave him a high paying job.

Isn't this the guy that just stole the code from a Dutch hackers worm

[QUOTE=MBGrimm;18584863]Awesome, this is where companies usually fall on their face. If people can hack the software they you've created, you want those people on [i]your[/i] side.[/QUOTE] yea by giving him a job with more access to the product itself, giving him a chance to do more damage. Not that he will do that :(.

[QUOTE=markg06;18585316]Isn't this the guy that just stole the code from a Dutch hackers worm[/QUOTE] Vice Versa. The Dutch stole from him.

That sounds like quite an coincidence. Conspiracy! :tinfoil:

[quote][b]Ashley[/b] Towns[/quote] [quote][b]Mr[/b] Towns[/quote] :smug:

[QUOTE=timgames;18585671]yea by giving him a job with more access to the product itself, giving him a chance to do more damage. Not that he will do that :(.[/QUOTE] They can put him in jail if he does anything though.

Well he knew how to code, that's what they're looking for.

[QUOTE=leet;18585983]Well he knew how to code, that's what they're looking for.[/QUOTE] Make your avatar transparent.

It's not like he made the phones self destruct. He just made that exploit more visible to everyone.

[QUOTE=timgames;18585671]yea by giving him a job with more access to the product itself, giving him a chance to do more damage. Not that he will do that :(.[/QUOTE] are you from singapore

What a prick. He's being rewarded for opening the door to programmers with more malicous intent.

His worm wasn't even that good. The only phones it could infect were jailbroken iPhones, but only jailbroken phones that still had the default password. Idk why any company would want to hire him, except for the publicity.

[QUOTE=Musicfreak59;18584782]I can't believe this guy [i]snaked[/i] a job into Apple. Eh, shit happens, and most hackers who get caught end up working as 'security experts'[/QUOTE]You get points for effort.

So with this logic I would get employed by FP studios as programmer for making a Lua virus?

[QUOTE=varj;18586033]Make your avatar transparent.[/QUOTE] [IMG]http://filebox.me/files/9kg5f2brq_screenie.png[/IMG] :smile:

This job might let him down. I mean, apple?

[QUOTE=Dlaor;18586159]So with this logic I would get employed by FP studios as programmer for making a Lua virus?[/QUOTE] If you tell garry how to protect gmod from it

Well, they aren't as dumb as other developers. Someone found a glitch in their system and they jail him and fix it instead of hiring them and knowing how to counter this shit in the future.

[QUOTE=rexxaH;18586231]Well, they aren't as dumb as other developers. Someone found a glitch in their system and they jail him and fix it instead of hiring them and knowing how to counter this shit in the future.[/QUOTE] Mogeneration has nothing to do with apple or jailbreaking. They only hired him for the publicity.

if you can't beat em'... and you own a multibillion dollar conglomerate, invite them to join you

[QUOTE=AltofaMoron;18585732]Vice Versa. The Dutch stole from him.[/QUOTE] Ah.. the good old days. It remembers me of the Gold Ages when we used to enter and steal cargo ships full of silver or Chinese porcelain.

you know that you can pay $100 and get a license to develop app store games, right? this is nothing special and nothing corporate. someone just hired him.

Why are they making a big deal about this 'worm?' It's incredibly easy changing the wallpaper. It's not much of an achievement.

[QUOTE=MachiniOs;18586151]What a prick. He's being rewarded for opening the door to programmers with more malicous intent.[/QUOTE] Maybe the victims shouldn't have jailbroken their phones. Or if they don't like Apple's restrictions, get another phone? People who jailbreak get all they deserve from stuff like this. They've got no right to whine because it's their fault anyway.