Hackers could take over your iPhone, according to security researchers who say Apple is aware of the problem.


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And the method is chillingly simple - a text message containing one square character .

Charlie Miller and Collin Mulliner say they have found a flaw in the way the phones handle text messages, which could allow hackers complete control of the handset.

The hack would come in the form of a burst of SMS messages which contain a single character.

They would let the hacker control dialling the phone, visiting websites, the phone's camera and also sending texts to other iPhones, allowing control of them as well.

Mr Miller said: "This is serious. The only thing you can do to prevent it is turn off your phone.

"Someone could pretty quickly take over every iPhone in the world with this."

Mr Mulliner told Sky News Online: "In the business world this could have high value, if you could stop decision makers making or receiving phone calls.

"Mobile security is really taking off so we are just the first to discover this bug. There is no way this would have stayed secret."

Mr Miller will reveal the flaw in the Apple phone during a speech to the Black Hat cybersecurity conference today.

He claims to have told Apple about the potential bug over a month ago, but the company still hasn't released a patch to combat the potential hacks.

Source; http://news.sky.com