iPhones across Australia lit up with the face of '80s crooner Rick Astley this week as a Wollongong TAFE student made international headlines for releasing the first virus to infect the popular smartphone platform.

The virus is able to reset the phone wallpaper to display an image of Astley (a practice known as rickrolling) on “jailbroken” iPhones.

The infected iPhone screen, Rick Astley virus wallpaper image (top right), and Ashley Towns (bottom right).

These phones are unlocked so users can use non-Apple applications or service providers, and only those who had failed to reset default security passwords were affected.

Ashley Towns, the 21-year-old Australian who has taken credit for the high-tech stunt, wrote on his Twitter page yesterday that he created the virus to raise awareness of security issues related to iPhone passwords.