Yesterday we posted a blog that provides the pros and cons of jailbreaking your iPhone 4. We also detailed how to jailbreak the phone through the website jailbreakme.com. The website utilizes a security flaw that allows it to download a PDF file directly onto the iPhone. Code inside the PDF file is then used to jailbreak the phone. While jailbreakme.com exploits this for a completely benign purpose, hackers may use the same security oversight to disable or otherwise compromise the iPhone or any other Apple device. Apple has yet to release a statement regarding the security flaw, nor has it provided a security patch.

It should be noted that the PDF security problem can only harm your phone if you visit a malicious website. Such websites can automatically download a simple PDF document to your iPhone and then release a virus imbedded within the file. The virus can do anything from stealing your address book to remotely viewing everything you do. This can happen even on non-jailbroken Apple devices.

Fortunately, there is a fairly simple way to overcome this security flaw for the time being if you jailbreak your phone first. We highly recommend doing the jailbreak through jailbreakme.com. You can then download an app called PDF Loading Warner, available through the unofficial Cydia store, which alerts you whenever a website attempts an unauthorized download. The reason the phone must be jailbroken first is because PDF Loading Warner is an unofficial app, which means it’s not available through the iTunes App Store. While this doesn’t completely resolve the security issue, you will at least see a warning anytime a PDF file attempts to download. This warning lets you choose whether to allow or abort the download.

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