Hackers can take over your iPhone with a simple text message, security researchers say.
The iPhone bug was first discovered by infamous hacker Charlie Miller, who realized he could take over an entire iPhone by sending out a string of SMS (Short Message Service) messages.
Miller, along with security researcher Collin Mulliner, will present on how these smartphones can be hacked into at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas today.
After accessing these vicious SMS messages, a hacker can essentially access any part of the iPhone, including a person’s contacts, text messages, emails, pictures, etc.
An indication that your iPhone is being attacked is if you receive a text message with a single square on it. If this happens, the best way to protect yourself is to turn off your iPhone, Miller told Forbes:
“This is serious. The only thing you can do to prevent it is turn off your phone. Someone could pretty quickly take over every iPhone in the world with this.”
Apple has yet to provide a fix for this issue, and has yet to comment on the problem.
“It’s kind of scary,” iPhone user Eric Castellanos said to Cbs5, “You have all your information on here: your e-mails, your contacts, your pictures, everything on here. For that to happen, it’s kind of scary, like stealing your life or something.”
