Mega-hype = increased attention from hackers.

Researchers have proven that one since late July, since when the iPhone has been pulled apart by what must be the largest number of researchers ever interested in a mobile device.

And why not? The iPhone, after all, is a mini-computer – and one from a company known for not having the best relationship with the research community.

Renowned hacker H.D. Moore published some iPhone exploit code over the weekend. Here it is, if you want to take a look.

And please keep in mind, most experts have recommended fighting iPhone insecurity with policy, allowing the device only a very short leash within corporate environments.

Who wouldn’t want a free iPhone – or an iPhone free of a binding agreement to one voice service provider?

I would. But it’s likely that no such deals exist, unfortunately. But here are some details on scam emails and online advertisements that claim they do - as well as other swindles.

The PC Doctor’s Blog details recently discovered iPhone scams, one claiming “unlocked” iPhones are available on eBay.

“An iPhone but be free of AT&T? Dream on!
A number of “unlocked” iPhones seem to be on sale on eBay. Given that there’s no confirmed unlock method for the iPhone, their listings are either erroneous or deceptive. Many of the sellers, when questioned on this, seem to be retracting their statements about the iPhone being unlocked, but there’s still plenty of scope for buyers to be scammed into buying a phone that’s not suitable to their needs.”
- “iPhone scams to be wary of…” The PC Doctor’s blog, July 2

But the award for the most comprehensive webpage on iPhone scams has to go to ScamBusters.org, which predicts the top seven most common iPhone scams – updated post-launch.

“1. iPhone on eBay scams:
As we write the first version of this article on Wednesday evening, two full days before the launch of the iPhone, there are already 1,796 products listed when you do an eBay search for ‘iPhone.’

Our recommendation: Never open attachments from people you don’t know or that you aren’t expecting. Keep your anti-virus software and anti-spyware software up to date. Use a firewall.”
- “iPhone scams: ScamBusters.org predicts the Top 7 iPhone Scams,” ScamBusters.org, updated July 3

It’s a little too early to start wondering if, a decade now, you’ll ask your friends, “Where were you when the iPhone went on sale?” But that doesn’t take away from the fact that Apple’s latest and greatest gadget launch was an unqualified success - at least in terms of living up to the hype.

Scammers have also had their turn with iPhone madness, sending out scam emails that download malware or try to acquire financial information from recipients.

The researchers are hard at work as well, taking the iPhone apart and looking for any security vulnerability they can find.

Here’s some post-launch security analysis of the iPhone launch:

“Within hours of Apple’s introduction of the latest version of its Safari browser two weeks ago, the hacking community began reporting bugs they had discovered in the beta code. Today, the iPhone is likely to get even closer scrutiny from many of the same security researchers. Here’s a list of the top items on the typical iPhone hacker’s to-do list.

3. Take a Close Look at iPhone’s Networking Technologies
Because Apple hasn’t previously developed its own mobile phone, there is bound to be lots of new and possibly buggy networking code in the device. “One of the things we’ll look at as well is the new code that will have to be developed for a phone platform,” said Neel Mehta, a researcher with IBM Corp.’s Internet Security Systems division. “With any piece of new code there’s always a risk that there could be vulnerabilities in it.”
- Anand Vardhan, Anand Varhan: Flex Developer, July 2, “A hacker’s to-do list – iPhone”

“Yup. After waiting a day to get the darn thing activated, we found a bug within a few minutes. We are cheating, of course; it’s just the same bug we found earlier on Safari. Also, our Bluetooth fuzzer locks up the device, so that’s an interesting sign. (As we’ve said in the past, we’ll disclose all our bugs to Apple when they publish acceptable vuln handling guidelines).

At the same time, Apple is going to have the same problem that Windows has. While they may have better theoretical security, they are going to be a bigger target. Hackers know a lot more about breaking into Mac OS X than they do competing platforms like Windows Mobile or Symbian. Thus, even though Apple will patch sooner, they’ll also have more bugs to patch because of increased hacker interest.”
- Robert Graham, Errata Security blog, July 1, “Our first iPhone bugs”