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MotionxxUSxx

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 1, 2007
408
5
I was looking to try the installer.app tonight and had a question about the 3rd party apps that can be installed. How safe are they, in terms of accessing personal info on the iphone and somehow sending this data to a 3rd party server unknown to the user? Do these programs have access to your personal data, like email passwords an logins?
 

The General

macrumors 601
Jul 7, 2006
4,825
1
I was looking to try the installer.app tonight and had a question about the 3rd party apps that can be installed. How safe are they, in terms of accessing personal info on the iphone and somehow sending this data to a 3rd party server unknown to the user? Do these programs have access to your personal data, like email passwords an logins?

OMG! They have access to all of it! Better go buy some tin foil ... :rolleyes:
 

Decagon

macrumors newbie
Jul 26, 2007
4
0
Good Question!

I also would like a serious answer to this question. If I change my passwords from dottie and alpine, will that increase security? Are there other steps we can take to protects our iPhones from would-be infiltrators?

I greatly appreciate the work the iphone dev people have done and the generosity everyone shows by sharing their work freely and volunteering time to explains things. *winks at The General* But, there are scammers out there taking advantage of the work the good people have done, and I certainly don't want to reward them by giving them a backdoor into miPhone!
 

Me1000

macrumors 68000
Jul 15, 2006
1,794
4
If an app has root access it can do whatever it wants.
:eek:

but it is no more dangerous than a desktop app with root access.

If the app is open source you look at the code and see if there is anything "shady" about it, or most likely someone else will.

I really dont think there is anything to worry about though!
 

MotionxxUSxx

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 1, 2007
408
5
If an app has root access it can do whatever it wants.
:eek:

but it is no more dangerous than a desktop app with root access.

If the app is open source you look at the code and see if there is anything "shady" about it, or most likely someone else will.

I really dont think there is anything to worry about though!

how do you determine if a application has root access? Just curious
 

The General

macrumors 601
Jul 7, 2006
4,825
1
how do you determine if a application has root access? Just curious

When you run an application on your iPhone, you're running it as root. Don't even worry about it ... The people who maintain the three repositories check for stuff like that. They won't put it on the Installer repository if it's a security risk.
 

MotionxxUSxx

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 1, 2007
408
5
When you run an application on your iPhone, you're running it as root. Don't even worry about it ... The people who maintain the three repositories check for stuff like that. They won't put it on the Installer repository if it's a security risk.

Thanks, got installer.app working and loving it. Can't believe I'm playing tecmo football on my iphone and so far it works great.
 

racemize

macrumors member
Jul 2, 2007
63
0
one thing to note, installer.app itself is not open source, so it could do whatever it wants. No one has complained about it yet to my knowledge though. I think a particularly clever group (e.g., the gov) might make one of these for use for monitoring purposes, but that is wild speculation.
 

johnnybluejeans

macrumors 6502
Jan 16, 2006
294
0
New York, NY
OMG! They have access to all of it! Better go buy some tin foil ... :rolleyes:

Applications having root access isn't as concerning as having OpenSSH running a server on hacked iPhones, giving root access to your iPhone to anyone on your local network.

And yes, these things can be turned off and the root password can be changed -- but I bet 95% of people who run Installer.app don't do that.
 

Vegeta-san

macrumors 6502
Aug 4, 2006
432
0
Applications having root access isn't as concerning as having OpenSSH running a server on hacked iPhones, giving root access to your iPhone to anyone on your local network.

And yes, these things can be turned off and the root password can be changed -- but I bet 95% of people who run Installer.app don't do that.

how does one change the root password on ones iPhone? This is the first I've heard about iPhone users being able to do this so thanks dude!
 
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