Mobile Security News archives
Code that protects most cellphone calls is divulged
Filed Under: Mobile Security NewsTuesday, December 29th, 2009
Next Community
A German computer engineer said Monday that he had deciphered and published the secret code used to encrypt most of the world’s digital mobile phone calls, in what he called an attempt to expose weaknesses in the security of the world’s wireless systems.
The action by the encryption expert Karsten Nohl aimed to question the effectiveness of the 21-year-old GSM algorithm, a code developed in 1988 and still used to protect the privacy of 80 percent of the world’s mobile calls.
Read more about cell phone network security
Sexting: What parents should know
Filed Under: Mobile Security NewsWednesday, December 23rd, 2009
WNYT.com
These simple tips may help parents start a discussion with their child and help make personal decisions for their family about access to the internet and cell phones:
Set time of day limits on cell phone usage: While many parents have a hard time regulating the number of texts per month and have surrendered to “unlimited texting”, you can control the hours that your teen texts. We suggest determining a time when cell phones come of the pocket or out of the bedroom and are placed in a central location on a charger along with your cell phone. Kids who are permitted to keep their cell phones in their room overnight on average get less sleep and are often times texting in the middle of the night. Make the right choice in allowing your teen to obtain uninterrupted sleep by limiting the hours that they have phone access and set rules on when texting is appropriate.
Read more about sexting…
Click here to learn more about SMobile’s Parental Controls
Gender Divide in Children’s Use of Cell Phone Features, Study Finds
Filed Under: Mobile Security NewsFriday, December 18th, 2009
In a study of nearly 1,000 middle-school students, students were asked to rate the different ways they use their cell phone on a five-point scale, from zero meaning “Never” to 5 meaning “Several Times a Day.” The study found that boys scored higher than girls for using their cell phones to play games, share pictures and videos, listen to music and/or send e-mails, even after accounting for how much the students liked using their phones and how skilled they were at using them, says Cotten, whose study appears in the current issue of the journal New Media & Society.
“It has a lot to do with gender socialization,” says Cotten. “Boys are often taught to explore and be more creative with technology and not to be afraid to take things apart. So it leads to more advanced cell phone uses among boys. Boys tend to see and use the cell phone as a gadget.”
Read more about children’s cell phone usage…
Gender Divide in Children's Use of Cell Phone Features, Study Finds
Filed Under: Mobile Security NewsFriday, December 18th, 2009
In a study of nearly 1,000 middle-school students, students were asked to rate the different ways they use their cell phone on a five-point scale, from zero meaning “Never” to 5 meaning “Several Times a Day.” The study found that boys scored higher than girls for using their cell phones to play games, share pictures and videos, listen to music and/or send e-mails, even after accounting for how much the students liked using their phones and how skilled they were at using them, says Cotten, whose study appears in the current issue of the journal New Media & Society.
“It has a lot to do with gender socialization,” says Cotten. “Boys are often taught to explore and be more creative with technology and not to be afraid to take things apart. So it leads to more advanced cell phone uses among boys. Boys tend to see and use the cell phone as a gadget.”
Read more about children’s cell phone usage…
Cyber threat: Bullies go high-tech these days
Filed Under: Mobile Security NewsThursday, December 17th, 2009
Katie Brown Education Program
The Herald News
Communicating through technology has become one of the most popular forms of socializing among children and teens. Along with the benefits of this trend, such as convenience and saving time, comes the risk that technology could be used to hurt or embarrass peers. Cyber bullying, defined as harassment using an electronic medium such as e-mail, chat rooms, cell phones, and instant messaging, is a mounting problem among youth. Your child may have even experienced cyber bullying in your own home. It is important to be informed on this emergent issue so that you will be able to help if your child is involved with cyber bullying behavior.
Cyber bullying is similar to traditional bullying (harassment in classrooms, hallways, at bus stops, etc) in several ways.
Read more about cyber-bullying…
Taking Action Investigation: Cell Phone Spying
Filed Under: Mobile Security NewsWednesday, November 25th, 2009
New software offers consumer level espionage
WHNT NEWS 19
MADISON COUNTY, AL - Our cell phones are our life lines these days. They’re as much a part of our wardrobes as the clothes we wear. When we forget them, we feel naked. However, a Taking Action Consumer Investigation will make you realize just how vulnerable you and your private information are.
Most of us are on our cell phones all the time — talking, texting and taking care of business. Think about the private conversations and information you share over your cell phone. And now imagine someone listening in without you knowing it. It might be the ultimate invasion of privacy.
In this fast-paced world, who doesn’t have a cell phone? You use it just about everywhere you go — even when you’re at work.
“As long as my boss ain’t watching,” jokingly says Keith McLaglen…
Read more about cellphone spying…
Wi-Fi Breaches Found in iPhone, Android Devices
Filed Under: Mobile Security NewsWednesday, November 18th, 2009
Internet News
Public Wi-Fi hotspots spell trouble for smartphone data protection, according to a mobile security firm that successfully hacked several high-end handsets through unprotected wireless networks.
A team of security experts from SMobile Systems recently issued a research paper outlining the steps they took to successfully breach data on four popular smartphones using “man-in-the-middle” (MITM) attacks…
Read more about Android, iPhone security flaws…
Smartphones on Wi-Fi vulnerable to security attack
Filed Under: Mobile Security NewsTuesday, November 17th, 2009
Smartphone users using unencrypted Wi-Fi hotspots vulnerable to man-in-the-middle security attackers
Network World
A new report from a mobile security vendor details how the most popular smartphones, including the iPhone, are very vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks, carried out via public Wi-Fi connections.
According to the report by SMobile Systems, smartphone users connecting to unencrypted Wi-Fi hotspots can be easily compromised by knowledgeable attackers using an array of existing tools. The authors of the study used those tools to intercept username/password combinations sent from several different smartphones Mobile Security: The Essential Ingredient for Today’s Enterprise: Download this special report
The tests used a laptop with software tools to intercept communications between smartphones connecting to a Wi-Fi access point, and then to bypass SSL. That information was then used to access a variety of e-mail accounts. The same information could be used to access an online banking account or other information. More detail on the attack is found in the full report…
Read more about smartphone Wi-Fi vulnerabilities…
Don't Be Dumb About Smart Phones
Filed Under: Mobile Security NewsSunday, November 15th, 2009
The Wall Street Journal
Given how much information can be found in people’s smart phones—contact lists, emails littered with details about their personal lives and their work, company documents and data, personal financial information and passwords—it’s startling how little most users feel the need to protect the devices.
“People have a false sense of security” about their phones, says Daniel Hoffman, chief technology officer of SMobile Systems Inc., a provider of security software for mobile devices…
Read more about smartphone security…
BlackBerry Vulnerability
Filed Under: Mobile Security NewsFriday, October 23rd, 2009
Research In Motion (RIM) has released details of a vulnerability that exists in their implementation of Microsoft’s CryptoAPI in the default BlackBerry browser application. The vulnerable API could allow an attacker to trick a user into following a link to a malicious website, under the premise that the site is legitimate. Specifically, the vulnerable API could allow the attacker to craft an SSL certificate that contains null characters, tricking the browser into not alerting the user to the fact that the site they are being directed to is not the legitimate website. All BlackBerry Device Software versions, containing the BlackBerry Browser, Internet Browser, WAP Browser, and Wi-Fi (Hotspot) browser are affected and should be updated to the most current version. For complete details of the vulnerability, click here.
Read more about BlackBerry vulnerabilities…
