iSAM: An iPhone Stealth Airborne Malware

摘要

Modern and powerful mobile devices comprise an attractive target for any potential intruder or malicious code. The usual goal of an attack is to acquire users' sensitive data or compromise the device so as to use it as a stepping stone (or bot) to unleash a number of attacks to other targets. In this paper, we focus on the popular iPhone device. We create a new stealth and airborne malware namely iSAM able to wirelessly infect and self-propagate to iPhone devices. iSAM incorporates six different malware mechanisms, and is able to connect back to the iSAM bot master server to update its programming logic or to obey commands and unleash a synchronized attack. Our analysis unveils the internal mechanics of iSAM and discusses the way all iSAM components contribute towards achieving its goals. Although iSAM has been specifically designed for iPhone it can be easily modified to attack any iOS-based device.