Watch out for the Rickrolling iPhone worm!

Hear, hear, iPhone users! I’ve heard in the radio today that an Australian student just created a worm which infects Apple’s iconic iPhone with pictures of 1980’s pop star Rick Astley.

According to security firm Sophos, this is the first worm detected that targets the iPhone.

Ashley Towns, 21, who lives with his family near Sydney, said he was trying to raise security awareness with his cheeky but harmless “Ikee” worm, which spreads from phone to phone along wireless networks.

The virus swaps the iPhone’s wallpaper with an image of Astley and the words “Ikee is never gonna give you up”, a reference to Rick Astley’s 1987 hit: “Never Gonna Give You Up”.

On the lighter side, it only affects phones that have been modified, or jail-broken to install applications not approved by manufacturer Apple, and can easily be deleted. But still, it should raise awareness of viruses because  it’s only a matter of time before the bad guys imitate Towns by hacking the iPhone.

So, people do not jail-break your iPhones (or at least change the default password after you install SSH) or you’ll have to gonna give it up!

Note: If you’re an 80’s baby like me, you could always see Rick Astley in YouTube if you missed him.

Popularity: 1% [?]