Finally, An Easier Way To Bug Mayor Street

It was just a few weeks ago when our very own mayor, John Street, got in line for an iPhone at 3 in the morning (at right). “Go back to work!” the critics jeered. “Stop the murders!” But John Street is the lame duck mayor and so there’s not much anyone can do to punish him for, uh, wanting a cool new tech gadget.

Au contraire. You can simply get back at Mayor Street by hacking into his iPhone. Independent Security Evaluators have discovered a simple buffer flow exploit that allows a remote computer to take control of an iPhone if the phone user (in this case, Mayor Street) visits a website designed to do such a thing. In the New York TImes article, the phone follows commands from a remote computer and sends back text messages and contacts.

There are no reports of this exploit actually effecting any phones; right now it’s just more of a proof of concept. But still! The Times says the iPhone could even be turned into a portable bugging device. Now how’s John Street gonna sweep his office for bugs this time?

IPhone Flaw Lets Hackers Take Over, Security Firm Says [NYT]
June 29: This Kind Of Sums Up Eight Years Of John Street