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'SMS of Death' Could Affect All Phones

Jan 7, 2011, 3:07 PM by Eric M. Zeman

German researchers have proven that the Short Messaging Service protocol (SMS) can be used to deliver malicious code to nearly all cellular phones — including feature phones — and do things such as force them off the network or force them to shut down. The researchers were able to set up a micro cellular network, scan devices that passed through it to determine their behavior, and then attach those phones via SMS. The point of the research was to demonstrate that with the right equipment, practically all cell phones are susceptible to attack. The researchers were able to successfully attack phones made by Nokia, LG, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and Micromax. According to the researches, it will be up to the network operators to come up with a way to defend against this sort of attack.

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Comments

This forum is closed.

This forum is closed.

CamelTowing

Jan 7, 2011, 9:48 PM

Oh, so...

Sounds like some software companies basically found a way to hack this for the sole purpose of selling the protection software to the network operators. Nice...

cstone

This doesn't sound like anything new. Back in about 2003 there was a text message going around that would cause nearly any phone to turn off. It was a funny joke at first until people realized that it would cause some phones to periodically turn thems...
(continues)

...

shackdancer456

Yeah now there coming out with phone security its 50 bucks for a year, they'll monitor everything! 🤣

...

muchdrama

Jan 7, 2011, 3:46 PM

Oh, great--

--soon our phones will be compromised. Excellent.

mycool

muchdrama said:
--soon our phones will be compromised. Excellent.

soon? lmao. Soon was long ago.

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