KeyRaider Malware Busts iPhone Jailbreakers

Data-robbing malicious software dubbed "KeyRaider" has stolen more than 225,000 valid Apple accounts and thousands of certificates, private keys and purchasing receipts, Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42 reported last week.

The firm identified the malware in cooperation with WeipTech, which found the accounts on a server while it was analyzing suspicious user-reported iOS tweaks.

KeyRaider targets Apple iPhones modified by their owners -- that is, jailbroken -- to accept third-party applications.

Cydia repositories, which contain apps designed to run on jailbroken iPhones, distributed the pernicious program, according to Palo Alto Networks. The threat appears to have impacted users from 18 countries, including China, Russia, Japan, the UK, the U.S., Canada and South Korea.

Palo Alto Networks informed Apple about the compromised credentials before making its findings public, said Ryan Olson, intelligence director of Unit 42.

"It was able to take action on them before we announced that the compromise had occurred," he told TechNewsWorld.

Apple did not respond to our request to comment for this story.

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