Worm targets Dutch bank iPhone app

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- A computer worm is targeting iPhone users who use an application to conduct online transactions with Dutch bank ING Direct, security experts say.

Finnish security company F-Secure says the worm seems limited to iPhone users in the Netherlands, who are being redirected to a look-alike sign-in screen when they try to access their ING Direct accounts via their handsets, the BBC reported Monday.

The company said only iPhones that have been modified by users to run non-Apple-approved software applications are experiencing the problem, the broadcaster reported.

The affected iPhones also must have "secure shell," or SSH, installed, which is a file-transfer program that enables users to remotely connect to their iPhones via a password. The broadcaster said SSH users need to be reset the password from its default, "alpine," to avoid being compromised.

"It's the second iPhone worm ever and the first that's clearly malicious -- there's a clear financial motive behind it," F-Secure research director Mikko Hypponen told the BBC.