Apple Releases Security Patch to Fix iPhone SMS Vulnerability

Apple has released a software parch for its mobile operating system (iPhone 3.0.1), fixing a vulnerability with the way the iPhone processes text messages.

The vulnerability, demonstrated at the recent Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, allowed hackers to gain control of various iPhone functions – the camera and contacts list, for example – by sending a seemingly harmless SMS message to a user’s device.

“The problem here is a systemic one,” explained independent security researcher, Charlie Miller, who discovered the flaw. “It has to do with the fact that phones have to accept text messages and that they always have to process the data that comes with them.”