According to DarkReading, one of the latest third-party applications for the iPhone - and the iPod Touch - is a custom version of Metasploit software, which could be used to aid hacking.

The Metasploit Project is a computer security project which provides information about security vulnerabilities and aids in penetration testing plus IDS signature development.

Its best-known iteration is the Metasploit Framework, a tool for developing and executing exploit code against a remote target machine.

Other important spin-off projects include the Opcode Database and the Shellcode Archive.

Metasploit was originally created in 2003 as a portable network game using the Perl scripting language.

Later, the Metasploit Framework was then completely rewritten in the Ruby programming language, since when it has been a popular utility for security researchers to investigate potential vulnerabilities.

And now it is available for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Thomas Wilhelm, associate professor of information system security at Colorado Technical University, showed attendees at the recent Defcon security event in Las Vegas, how the Metasploit software can be installed on an Apple iPod Touch.

The software, which unconfirmed reports suggest has now been developed for the iPhone as well, turns the two Apple i-devices into penetration testing units, with the advantage they appear as a legitimate audio player or mobile phone to any onlooker.

DarkReading quoted Wilhelm as saying that, because of its size and ability to connect back to a more robust attack platform, the iPod Touch can go anywhere and get penetration testers into areas where they couldn't go before.

"If I walked into a bank with a laptop, people would be suspicious. If I were to walk in with something like an iPhone, people would accept it. I could hack for hours in a bank or coffee shop, and no one would suspect", he told attendees at Defcon.