Apple has yet to address what plans, if any, they have for original iPhone and iPod touch owners, in light of today’s exploit patch.
The PDF Exploit patched today is the first major security exploit that targets iOS 3.1, 3.2, and 4.0 simultaneously. While the exploit allows a device to be jailbroken, a malformed PDF file could be used to compromise the device’s security as an email attachment.
The original iPhone and iPod touch were not upgraded to iOS 3.2, which was only released for iPad. Apple has said that iOS 3.2 was a stop-gap measure for iPad to be released quickly, and they intend to upgrade it to iOS 4 later this year. Apple has not offered an iOS 3.2 upgrade for the original iPhone and original iPod touch.
Oddly enough, the only way for original iPhone and iPod touch owners to protect their devices, is to jailbreak them. Once jailbroken, the device can be patched with a fix available from inside Cydia.
Historically, Apple updates the previous major release with security updates, provided users are running the latest branch of that OS’s generation. The update of iPad to 3.2.2 represents this policy in action. However, this is also the first time that Apple has not upgraded devices to the latest branch release of an iOS version. As such, Apple is in a lurch; either update older devices that haven’t been sold for years, or face a PR debacle for being forced to tell customers that they may want to stop using their devices… out of security concerns.
While PhoneNews.com has contacted Apple requesting comment, Apple rarely replies to PhoneNews.com’s communications. As such, we no longer delay articles related to Apple while waiting for comment from the company.
Hold their feet to the fire on this one.