Although Apple took serious security precautions while creating the iPhone, a newly-discovered vulnerability puts users at risk of having their phone hijacked.

A team of computer security consultants say they have found a flaw in Apple’s wildly popular iPhone that allows them to take control of the device.

The researchers, working for Independent Security Evaluators, a company that tests its clients’ computer security by hacking it, said that they could take control of iPhones through a WiFi connection or by tricking users into going to a Web site that contains malicious code. The hack, the first reported, allowed them to tap the wealth of personal information the phones contain.

That’s definitely one downside of a multi-function device like the iPhone: with so many interesting applications and uses, it’s got to be tempting to store loads of personal data on there, forgetting that it’s not nearly as secure as, say, a non-WiFi phone. Fortunately, there’s no evidence that anyone’s iPhone has been hacked yet.

But it may just be a matter of time: one tester demonstrated how visiting a malicious web site with his iPhone caused the phone to immediately send files to the attacking computer. The files included copies of recent text messages as well as contact numbers and email addresses. In theory, the tester claims, the phone could be programmed by hackers to make calls.

The vulnerablity is detailed at www.exploitingiphone.com.

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