Virus/Worms

[4SFORFUN]

I am a newbie when it comes to the Iphone, but was wondering if through the course of downloading material via the internet, if it's possible to download a virus / worm.

[jhollington]

While anything is theoretically possible, this is highly unlikely with the iPhone.

Viruses/worms are normally distributed in application packages, and the only applications you can run on the iPhone unless you've hacked/jailbroken it are the ones from the iTunes App Store. Presumably these are vetted by Apple before they're made available.

That having been said, it's always a possibility that some vulnerability in an app like Safari could expose you to risk from specific web sites that target that specific vulnerability. In fact, it was a vulnerability in the iPhone v1.1.1 Safari browser that enabled one of the early jailbreaks for that version of the iPhone OS.

When these types of vulnerabilities are discovered, they're normally patched in the next iPhone firmware update, which is why it's always a good idea to run the latest iPhone OS version available.

So while it's not impossible to get a virus/worm on the iPhone, it's pretty unlikely unless somebody is targeting a specific vulnerability/exploit in an existing iPhone app.

[4SFORFUN]

thanks for replying. this is my first phone with internet capability & was curious if this is a potential issue.