iPhone users warned of phishing threat

Security researcher Aviv Raff said on Wednesday that the iPhone's Mail and Safari applications are prone to URL spoofing and could allow phishing attacks against users.

The alert was anticipated. Prior to the release of the iPhone on 11 July, Raff was one of a few security researchers who indicated they had found vulnerabilities but were waiting to see the final iPhone 2.0 release.

By crafting a specially designed URL, Raff said an attacker could create an email link that appears in Mail to be from a trusted site — for example, a financial institution or social network. By clicking the link, Safari will open the phishing site. The issue affects users of iPhone 1.1.4 and 2.0.

Raff, who has informed Apple of the vulnerability, declined on his blog to offer more details until a patch is available.

Until then, Raff suggested iPhone users "avoid clicking on links in the Mail application which refers to trusted websites (eg, bank, PayPal, social networks, etc). Instead, a user should enter the URL of the website manually in the Safari application."
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