iPeet Tech Reviews

These are instructions on how to change the root password on your jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch.

This password is required when using SSH to connect to your device.

Step One
You'll need MobileTerminal to Change your password. Launch Cydia on your device and search "MobileTerminal" and install.

Step Two
Press to launch MobileTerminal from your iPhone Springboard.

Step Three
Input su into the terminal window then press the return key.

Step Four
You will be asked to input the current root user password. Input alpine then press the return key.

Step Five
Once you have logged in as the root user input passwd into the terminal window then press the return key.

You will be prompted for new password. Input a password of your choice then press the return key.

You will be asked to retype the new password. Do this, then press the return key to finalize your change.

Post from iClarified.com

INTEGO SECURITY MEMO – November 11, 2009
Hacker Tool Copies Personal Info from iPhones

Exploit: iPhone/Privacy.A

Discovered: November 10, 2009

Risk: Low

Description: Following the recent discovery of a worm that changes wallpaper on iPhones1, Intego has spotted another piece of malware that attacks iPhones, one that is far more dangerous than the ikee worm. This hacker tool, which Intego identifies as iPhone/Privacy.A, takes advantage of the same vulnerability in the iPhone as the ikee worm, allowing hackers to connect to any jailbroken iPhone (iPhones hacked to allow installation of software other than throug iTunes) whose owners have not changed the root password.

It is important to note that standard, non-jailbroken iPhones are not at risk; it is extremely dangerous to jailbreak an iPhone because of the vulnerabilities that this process creates. (Estimates suggest that 6-8% of iPhones are jailbroken.)

When connecting to a jailbroken iPhone, this tool allows a hacker to silently copy a treasure trove of user data from a compromised iPhone: e-mail, contacts, SMSs, calendars, photos, music files, videos, as well as any data recorded by any iPhone app. Unlike the ikee worm, which signals its presence by changing the iPhone's wallpaper, this hacker tool gives no indication that it has invaded an iPhone.
Hackers using this tool will install it on a computer - Mac, PC, Unix or Linux - then let it work. It scans the network accessible to it, and when it finds a jailbroken iPhone, breaks into it, then steals data and records it.

This hacker tool could easily be installed, for example, on a computer on display in a retail store, which could then scan all iPhones that pass within the reach of its network. Or, a hacker could sit in an Internet café and let his computer scan all iPhones that come within the range of the wifi network in search of data. Hackers could even install this tool on their own iPhones, and use it to scan for jailbroken phones as they go about their daily business.

This report was taken from www.intego.com