Mobile Botnets for the iPhone called IKee-B

A recent increase in iPhone worms hints at a future risk for mobile botnets.

The November release of IKee-B iPhone worm exploited jailbroken iPhone default passwords which potentially turned the device into a botnet client controlled by a Lithuanian server. The worm targeted dutch bank ING customers in the Netherlands.

Security researchers at SRI International published an analysis of the iPhone botnet that warns users of iPhones to expect more in future. Warnings about mobile malware have been voiced for many years. But it's only since the birth of iPhones and similar smartphones with decent internet access that the risks have become a real threat - Something the antivirus vendors have been warning about for years.

SRI's researchers state that although the Ikee-B worm is simpler than its PC cousins, it does have the potential to evolve in something much nastier.

The iKee-B bot is one of the most recent smartphone malwares to be discovered, in this case targeting jailbroken iPhones. While its implementation is simple compared to PC-based malware, its implications demonstrate the potentialof  exploitation to this new group of handheld consumer devices.

The full SRI analysis can be found here.