Less than two weeks after the bug was first discovered, the Wirelurker iOS malware has already led to three arrests. First discovered by ZDNet, the Beijing Bureau of Public security has announced the arrest of three suspects charged with spreading the Wirelurker malware through a third-party app store. Police say the program that spread the malware has also been shut down.
Wirelurker was notable as the first malware program able to penetrate the iPhone's strict software controls, thanks to an "enterprise provisioning" setting designed to let businesses install their own software. Once a desktop computer was infected with the bug, the virus would infect any attached iPhone through the USB slot, supposedly lurking in the wires. Shortly after Wirelurker was announced, researchers at FireEye published a report on a similar bug that exploited the same loophole, which was enough to inspire an official government warning. Neither bug seems to have infected very many devices, but it's a rare blemish on the company's security record, and one that China appears to have taken very seriously.
