James Delahunty
13 Jun 2013 23:46
Researchers have detailed a weakness effecting some iPhone that can be exploited to force devices to connect to malicious Wi-Fi networks.
Even if the iPhone had never connected to a Wi-Fi network before, this attack method could still work, Skycure researchers found. The problem actually lies with the configuration settings installed by wireless carriers.
In order to provide customers with more reliable data connections on the move, Wi-Fi hotspots are setup in public places targeted at just their customers. For example, AT&T pre-sets iPhones to connect to networks with an SSID of "attwifi". The problem is simple, this connection can happen automatically with no user interaction.
"Setting up such Wi-Fi networks would initiate an automatic attack on nearby customers of the carrier, even if they are using an out-of-the-box iOS device that never connected to any Wi-Fi network," the researchers wrote.
A test carried out in a restaurant in Tel Aviv resulted in 60 connections to an imposter network within a minute. At the International Cyber Security Conference, Skycure did the same thing and recorded 448 connections within a two and half hour period.
Connecting to a rogue wireness network could put an iPhone user at risk of man in the middle attacks, where data can be stolen in transit, or links and content could be forged.