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Malware infects 75,000 jailbroken iPhones

The built-in malware & virus protection that comes with Apple's walled-off garden is only so good as long as you stay in the confined space of the App Store, as otherwise hackers will be able to attack you with malicious programs. Specifically, jailbroken iPhones, which can install any iOS app whether it's approved by Apple or not, are obviously susceptible to malware attacks, and a Virus Bulletin advisory notice details one such malicious program that has infected at least 75,000 iOS devices to date.

This particular malware app doesn't go after personal information and doesn't try to steal money from the user of the device. Instead, it has a different target for its attacks: The online ads that appear in various free-to-download applications.

Thus, even though it appears to be harmless, the malware does plenty of damage. Apparently the malware has already stolen revenue from an estimated 22 million ads displayed on those jailbroken iPhones, although it's not clear what that translates to when it comes to actual cash.

"Each time you view or click on an ad on an infected device, the corresponding revenue goes to the attacker, and not to the developer or the legitimate affiliate," security researcher Axelle Apvrille writes.

Dubbed AdThief, this iOS malware program was discovered in early March 2014.

"At the end of 2013, there were only four different families, (Ikee, FindCall, Toires and Trapsms)", the researcher said. "Thus, the discovery of new iOS malware is generally pretty hot news for an anti-virus analyst."

AdThief routes money from ads to a different account, potentially stealing millions of pounds

Hijacked advertisements in iOS/AdThief

AderMob http://adermob.renren.com China
AdMob and Google Mobile Ads http://www.admob.com/ USA
AdsMogo http://www.adsmogo.com/en China
AdSage/MobiSage http://www.adsage.com/mobiSage China
AdWhirl http://www.adwhirl.com USA
Domob http://domob.cn China
GuoHeAD http://www.guohead.com China
InMobi http://www.inmobi.com India
Komli Mobile http://www.komlimobile.com/index India
MdotM http://www.mdotm.com USA
MobClick http://www.mobclix.com USA
UMeng http://www.umeng.com China
Vpon http://vpon.com China
Weibo http://us.weibo.com China
YouMi http://www.youmi.net China

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