With the amount of data breaches we hear about on the news, we can easily start to feel paranoid that all of our private information will get into the wrong hands — and we aren't just worried about email hacks.
Our whole entire lives are pretty much stored on our iPhones, including our credit card information on iTunes and Apple Pay, our passwords, location data, photos, so on and for forth. So, the last thing we would want is for someone to hack into our smartphones.
How exactly would we really know if this happened to us?
iPhone owners will now be able to find out if their phone has been hacked thanks to this new security app.
Launched over the weekend in the App Store, System and Security Info informs users if their smartphone has been jailbroken without them knowing.
Jailbreaking an iPhone means that the device is now able to run software other than what is approved by Apple. Some of the types of software may seem to run normally to an unexpecting person, but really can be used to spy on the user.
Since the phone is then essentially broken into, it is completely exposed, which means hackers can get access to all your personal information.
System and Security Info automatically detects if a jailbreak has been found, as well detects any other anomalies and malware that is on the iPhone. It does so by using private jailbreak exploits that run a number of tests to find the commonly-known jailbreak called artifacts, among other things.
Along with allowing concerned users to routinely check if there are any security threats and manage any privacy issues, the app also reveals CPU, memory and disk usage.
System and Security Info also shows a list of all the running processes in iOS 9. According to the app's developer SektionEins, this is the only app currently available that can so do. This is because Apple has tightened its fist to "not allow access to querying information about running processes anymore."
The app will also work with the latest iPhone SE.
The app itself is easy to use, although it can look intimating for those who don't know what exactly they are looking for. System and Security Info will do its thing, and a green light next to information it provides means that the item is all good. Of course, a red light means there could be a security threat.
It's so important to note that, just because the app finds the iPhone is jailbroken, doesn't mean that some hacker was spying or stealing information. Many people purchase phones that are jailbroken so that they can use it with any mobile carrier, for example.
However, at least users can know what they could be up against and protect their iPhones with this app.
System and Security Info is available to download in the App Store for $1.
Source: Gizmodo
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns | Flickr
