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Hackers love the iPhone

May 16, 2013

Do you rely on your iPhone to keep in touch with friends, surf the Internet, update your Facebook page and watch movies? Then you ought to be wary of cyber crimes. Business Insider recently delivered the alarming news that Apple iPhones are the most often hacked mobile devices. And most surprising? iPhones are the most frequent victims of hackers by a large margin.

 

The most hacked

Business Insider reports on the recent study “25 Years of Vulnerabilities” by Web security firm SourceFire. The report tracks how many Critical Vulnerabilities – also known as CREs – experienced by a variety of devices and software. When it came to mobile devices, Apple’s iPhone line had suffered far more hacks than every other. The SourceFire report found 210 CVE reports on iPhone devices. In comparison, it found just 24 for Android devices.

 

What’s behind it?

This begs the question: Why have iPhones been compromised so many more times than have Android mobile devices? Just as with so many other big questions, there aren’t any easy answers. Business Insider ponders whether part of the reason might be the iPhone’s popularity. The devices, after all, remain a top seller. But the SourceFire report states that Android has received fewer CVEs in 2012 than it did in 2011. This drop happened even though Android enjoyed a big rise in market share last year.

 

Going after the king

A recent interview with the SourceFire report author on the ZDNet Web site proposes another reason for the high number of iPhone hacks: Hacking the iPhone might present a challenge worthy of the most gifted hackers. Consider how Android devices work. They rely on an open platform. Consequently developers could easily create malicious third-party apps that users can download onto their phones. That’s not very much of a challenge for hackers. But hacking the iPhone, which does not boast an open platform? That’s a true test of a hacker’s skill.



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