Worm in Your iPhone? We Have a Fix For That!

Is there a worm in your Apple iPhone?

In the past week, we have seen plenty of iPhones get hit by worms directed specifically towards them.

In a past article, we have provided a method to protect yourself from this type of attack.

Now, we'll provide you with how to clean your iPhone if you've caught one of these viruses.  You'll need a copy of the MobileTerminal app from Cydia (as well as in order to change your root and mobile password to protect yourself).

There are three iPhone worms, each with a different solution for getting rid of these nasties. 

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1. The ikee/Rick Astley worm in which your iPhone's background has been changed to a handsome young man you recognized either from the eighties or from the thousands of videos regarding the Internet phenomenon of "Rick-rolling."

Open MobileTerminal and use these commands to delete the unwanted files.  These commands are case-sensitive.

The first command is to log into your root account and you will need your root password.  If you haven't changed it yet, the password is "alpine."

su root

rm /bin/poc-bbot

rm /bin/sshpass

rm /var/log/youcanbeclosertogod.jpg

rm /var/mobile/LockBackground.jpg

rm /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.ikey.bbot.plist

rm /var/lock/bbot.lock

If your phone stll has the picture of Rick Astley, you will need to remove these files as well to get rid of the ikee worm.

rm /usr/libexec/cydia/startup

rm /usr/libexec/cydia/startup.so

rm /usr/libexec/cydia/startup-helper

rm /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.saurik.Cydia.Startup.plist

Removing these four files will make it necessary for you to install Cydia again.

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2. iPhone/Privacy A: This worm transmits your personal information somewhere else.

This worm needs to be caught using your antivirus software on your computer.  If you have a Mac, Intego's VirusBarrier X5 will catch it.  We're not sure what Windows antivirus programs will catch it at the moment.

However, you can restore your data to factory conditions.  You may lose personal information, but the worm will no longer be on your iPhone.  Should you jailbreak again, protect yourself by changing both your root and mobile passwords.

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3. The third worm: This copies personal data as well as redirects online banking customers of a Dutch bank to a phishing Web site.

The current fix is to simply back up your data and restore your firmware to factory conditions.  Again, should you jailbreak your phone again, you will want to change the root and mobile passwords to protect your phone against this type of intrusion.

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To learn more about these worms, see our past articles:

Worm Hits Jailbroken Phones in Australia

Dutch iPhone Hacker Strikes Again: How to Secure Your iPhone in Simple Steps