In an article published last week by the IT website Slashdot.org the results of the research done by the Swiss developer Nicolas Seriot were presented, which revealed the fact that non-jailbroken phones are much more vulnerable to malware than jailbroken ones. The security issues related to e-mail accounts, Internet browsing history, or even passwords saved in Safari. Due to the closed nature of the iPhone OS and system files, malware could infect the phone even through an application purchased directly from the AppStore.
The main reason cited by Seriot why jailbroken phones are more secure is the fact that jailbreakers have access to firewall/privacy programs that help them filter the information entering or leaving the phone, and at the same time they have the possibility to change the root password of the phone, something that matters a lot, and here we have to remember viruses 1,2 that attacked jailbroken phones, but ONLY those that still had SSH open or the root password unchanged.
Of course, this theory of Seriot comes in direct contradiction with the one promoted by Apple which says that jailbroken phones are much more insecure due to the fact that the jailbreak process brings major changes to the security measures created by Apple in the firmware. Whatever the truth may be, we must be careful what we install on the phone, because developers do not always have the best intentions towards users, and this warning goes especially to those who use the phone regularly and have very important data on it which, through loss, would harm both them and others. Be safe!
