WASHINGTON — Rebooting a mobile device is often the solution for a balky smartphone or tablet, but security experts are concerned about a newly discovered Wi-Fi security bug that can cause an iPhone to reboot endlessly.
What makes the threat worse is the attack could occur without the phone even being connected to the malicious network.
Researchers from Skycure, a mobile security company, discovered that hackers can trigger a bug that would cause an iOS device to crash whenever the phone tries to join an encrypted web connection, resulting in a never-ending reboot cycle, making the phone useless, reports PC Magazine.
“When the device rebooted, it would automatically connect to the last Wi-Fi network it was connected to, crash again, reboot, and so on,” according to the magazine.
While security experts always remind of the dangers of joining free or unsecured networks, Skycure CEO Adi Sharabani says if a hacker were to create a Wi-Fi network with a particular configuration, this attack could occur without users specifically trying to join the infected network.
The vulnerability was discovered while Skycure researchers were experimenting, and it appears the threat hasn’t yet been adapted by criminals.
The company says it informed Apple of the vulnerability, and the companies are working together to fix it.
