Extortionist targets jailbroken iPhones

According to The Register, a Dutch hacker threatened iPhone jailbreakers to abuse their unlocked handsets unless they pay him €5 ($7.30)

The hack was possible because jailbreaking an iPhone involves enabling an SSH (Secure Shell) service on the handset, and users who then failed to change the default password left their device open to anyone with a modicum of technical knowledge and time on their hands.

The hacker obviously had a change of heart as he posted instructions on how to remove the security hole.

Australia. Text spammers fined $16m

The Federal Court of Brisbane has fined two companies and three individuals almost $16 million for breaches of the Spam Act. ABC reports.

It follows the first ever court action taken against those sending unwanted text messages.

The case was brought by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

A further hearing is scheduled to commence in November against three others accused of similar conduct.

Thai Operators Start Blocking Spam SMS

According to Cellular News, Thailand's three main mobile network operators are to cooperate on blocking SMS spam being sent over their networks.

It is expected that the messaging hub will block 90% of the 10 million junk messages sent every day.

Customers will have to opt-in to the system to have their messages filtered, in order to protect the operators from accusations of secretly blocking legitimate messages by mistake.

SMS vulnerability on iPhone

Remember that alleged SMS-based security hole on the iPhone allowing evil-doers to execute arbitrary code and do all sorts of nasty crap like create an army of mobile zombies ready and willing to execute a DoS attack? The guy who found it, security expert Charlie Miller, said that he'd reveal the details of it at Black Hat -- and Black Hat's this week.

Miller and his cohorts plan to unleash details of the hack tomorrow, and while they claim they informed Apple of the problem over a month ago, Cupertino's yet to make a move.

[via engadget:mobile]

China take steps to deal with SMS spam messages

China will limit the number of messages that a mobile number can send per day to battle rampant spam messages clogging cell phones, state media said on Friday. Reuters reports.

Spam messages, largely consisting of real estate offers, ads for English lessons, fake tax receipts and other frauds have grown very quickly in China in recent years. It is not unusual to receive dozens of messages a day, including the odd gun ad.

One mobile number cannot send more than 200 messages per hour or 1,000 per day on weekdays, according to the agreement.

On holidays, 500 messages per hour and 2,000 per day may originate from one number.

Image from Media Shift PBS.

Spam to go - the new mobile menace

Unwanted text messages, offering accident claims or dodgy dates, are on the rise. Many try to lure the unwary into costly 'services' and you have to pay to stop them. Sam Dunn investigates for The Guardian.

One in eight mobile phone users receive text "spam" each month and it's costing them 10p a time to stop the messages.

Unsolicited texts are rising at a rate of 5% a year in the UK, according to research from Airwide mobile messaging technology provider.

Read full article.

Trader reports seditious SMS, not realising it was sent by daughter

Police arrested a teenager who forwarded an SMS to her father about a purported racial riot in Pontian. The Star of Malaysia reports.

The father, a businessman, received the SMS on Monday, not knowing his daughter was the sender. The next day, he lodged a report with the police. It was only at dinner with his family that realised the text message had been sent by his daughter.

On Wednesday, the father and daughter went to the police station to try retract his complaint.

Police arrested the teenager then released her on bail.

In Malaysia, police action is taken against anyone involved in spreading rumours.

Related:

-- Malaysia: Stiff penalties for people using SMS to stir up unrest

-- China warns: SMS Rumors Will Lead To Imprisonment

-- India: Barring SMS to stem rumors

Bill Introduced To Block Mobile Spam

Two U.S. Senators have introduced legislation aimed at curbing unsolicited text messages by bolstering government oversight of commercial messaging. Mediapost reports.

The proposed m-SPAM Act co-sponsored by Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) would give the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission greater authority to restrict mobile spam and block commercial text messages to wireless numbers listed on the Do-Not-Call registry.

"Mobile spam invades both a consumer's cell phone and monthly bill," said Sen. Snowe, in a statement. "There is also increasing concern that mobile spam will become more than just an annoyance -- the viruses and malicious spyware that are often attached to traditional spam will most likely be more prevalent on wireless devices through m-spam."

The 2004 CAN-SPAM Act established regulations to prohibit sending unsolicited commercial email messages to wireless phones without permission. The new bill (S. 788) would extend those protections to text messages.

Brain Search through Google Mobile App

CADIE technology in the updated Google Mobile App powers Brain Search. Keep in mind today's date.

Egypt's killer SMS rumour

The Egyptian government has sought to dispel rumours that a mobile phone text message "from unknown foreign quarters" is spreading around the country and killing those who receive it. iAfrica reports.

The extraordinary move by Egypt's health and interior ministries follows press reports that an SMS containing a special combination of numbers killed a man in the town of Mallawi south of Cairo.

"He died vomiting blood, followed by stroke; shortly after he received a message from an unknown phone number," the Egyptian Gazette reported on Wednesday.

An "official security source" was quoted by the official MENA news agency as denying that those who receive the SMS "get splitting headaches followed by brain haemorrhage that leads to death."

... Egypt's interior ministry has detained three workers at an oil company for allegedly starting the rumours "and they are now being interrogated," MENA said.

Citizens Advised to Delete Walmart Hoax Text Message

According to MSNBC, law enforcement authorities in Arkansas and around the country are urging residents to relax - to pay no attention to a phony text message that has recently begun to resurface across the southeastern United States.

The text message claims that there will be a gang initiation at aWal-Mart store sometime this week that may possibly involve a shooting or other serious criminal activity. The message states that it is from "police" and is a warning for "women."

... Anyone receiving such a message should simply delete it. Individuals are discouraged from forwarding such misinformation to others.

LG shows off solar phone, battery cover

LG showed its own concept solar phone at MWC this week to match up with Samsung's Blue Earth.

The prototype LG handset can eke 3 minutes' worth of life out of a 10-minute charge in natural light.

[via engadget:mobile]

Fake Amber Alert Spreads Far and Wide (and Fast) via SMS, Twitter

An unofficial Amber Alert that apparently originated in Salt Lake City on Sunday night crisscrossed the country at lightning speed over the following two days, convincing well-meaning text messagers and Twitter users from Maryland to California that a 7-year-old girl in their state had been abducted by a man driving a silver truck with the license plate number 72B381.

By the time Utah authorities disavowed the bogus message on Monday, it had already spread all over America.

[via Urban Legends]

Google Accidentally Slams Users With SMS

According to Search Engine Roundtable via Gearlog, Google accidentally slammed users with SMS messages last night.

Around 30 texts were sent to hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of users between 8:30 p.m. and 12:40 a.m. After batting around the blame for the issue for a bit, Google finally issued the following statement:

After investigating this issue, the cause seems to be related to an error with the mobile aggregator used by many mobile providers. We've received confirmation that a fix is going out soon.

Florida Text Message Sase Solved

A University of Florida spokesman says a suspect has confessed to sending the mysterious "monkey got out of the cage" SMS that tens of thousands of people received this week.

The suspect who once worked for the university's text messaging service, Mobile Campus, maintains the message was not intended for school faculty, staff and students and that Tuesday's message was not intended as a racial slur against U.S. President Barack Obama.

[via MarketWatch]

Florida University police probe mysterious 'monkey' text

A criminal investigation is under way over a mysterious text message sent Tuesday to University of Florida staff and students, officials with the text-messaging company and university police said Wednesday. The Gainsville Sun reports.

The message - "The monkey got out of the cage" - was sent around 8:45 p.m. to cell phones of tens of thousands of current and former students and staff. Public speculation on online message boards focused on whether it was a racist slur against President Barack Obama.

Cellular Crime Warnings

Spotted on Future Perfect, a poster warning (elderly) people of phone crimes.

A Japanese variation of the Brazilian virtual kidnap crime where a (random) person is called and informed that their loved grand/son/daughter has got into trouble/been in a car accident/accused of sexual harassment and that they can buy their way out of trouble if only they can transfer money to an account.

In Brazil it's common for the money to be transferred as pre-paid credit to a phone account, in Japan the victim is given instructions to go to an ATM machine to make the transfer.

Curse of Silence' Attack Can Disable Texting On Most Nokia Phones

Phones using a number of popular versions of the Symbian S60 mobile OS (the Nokia N95, E71 and N76 just to name a few) can be partially disabled by a maliciously coded text.

The attack has been lamely dubbed "The Curse of Silence".

[via Gizmodo]

Police play down fears over killer perfume text message

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Abu Dhabi police and Qatar's health ministry have sought to play down fears among consumers that a killer perfume is on the loose after a rumour was spread by text message to mobile phones.

The text messages claimed 18 people had died after using the unnamed perfume and that another 35 had been admitted to intensive care in hospitals in Abu Dhabi and in Qatar.

Sharifi said the rumours were "without substance", and did not rule out differences between perfume sellers as being behind the malodorous campaign.

Text-Message Hoaxes Plague Obama's VP Plan

By the time Barack Obama is ready to announce his vice presidential pick, will anyone believe him? WIS10 reports.

"In recent days, as speculation and anticipation has mounted, so too have phony text messages declaring Obama's supposed running mate -- from Evan Bayh and Hillary Rodham Clinton to Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps.

There also were reports of John Kerry, Walter Mondale and even Eliot Spitzer.

In the absence of real information, pranksters have filled the gap with guidance from the website Wonkette -- and maybe Howard Stern, too. "

Related:

-- Annoy your friends by sending a fake Obama vice-president text message

-- Obama to Announce VP Via Text Message

Annoy your friends by sending a fake Obama vice-president text message

Want to annoy your friends today? Go to any of those Web sites (or your provider’s own text messaging page) that allow you to send a text message, then send a message saying Barack Obama has chosen *someone* to be his vice-president.

[CrunchGear via Wonkette]

Related: - Obama to Announce VP Via Text Message

Russia. Student spams 400 people with death threat

A 20-year-old Russian sent out four hundred death threats ("Death to Russian pigs and to you, freak!") to random phone numbers, according to Russia Today.

"Authorities tracked down the sender, who was in fact Russian, by tracing the phone number he had used. As Anton Shurubara explained to authorities upon his arrest, "I was just joking around. I wanted to see what people's reactions would be."

The court's reaction was that the mass text message amounted to racial hatred and a provocation to extremism, and placed him on one year of probation."

T-Mobile users can sue over cell phone spam

Disgruntled T-Mobile USA customers can move forward with their lawsuit against the wireless carrier over unsolicited text messages, under a federal court ruling earlier this week. [via Seattle Post Intelligencer]

"Marco Zaldivar, a T-Mobile subscriber, filed a lawsuit on behalf of himself and others in U.S. District Court in Seattle in October saying customers had no way to disable their cell phones from receiving text messages, forcing them to pay 10 to 15 cents for each one.

Federal judge Richard Jones on Tuesday denied T-Mobile's motion to dismiss the case."

Bomb hoax goes very wrong

A reporter covering the European football championship, late and fearing he would miss his flight, called the airport from his mobile phone to anonymously say there was a bomb on the flight from the Italian city of Verona to Vienna. Metro reports.

"Since no announcement had been made he became the prime suspect. A check of his mobile phone confirmed police suspicions and he was arrested.

The fake threat closed air traffic at the airport for several hours while the bomb squad checked out the airplane. "

Text prank aimed at Houston Zoo

According to dialaphone, this weekend the Dublin Zoo (and not the Houston Zoo as previously reported) switchboard was jammed with thousands of calls per day asking to speak to “Mr G Raff” and a host of other animal names, following a prank text message.

But someone is using cell phone text messages to monkey around with the Houston Zoo, too according to the Houston Chronicle. Zoo officials have asked the FBI to investigate a possibly malicious texting campaign that has deluged the main switchboard with telephone calls, including 3,500 received on Sunday — about 10 times the normal volume.

The calls are prompted when a cell phone user receives a cryptic text message, such as: "Somebody talking down on you, look for them." The text is followed by the zoo's main phone number: 713-533-6500.

The phone calls have come in spurts since April 22, said Brian Hill, a zoo spokesman. He urged people who receive text messages with the zoo's phone number not to call."

Chinese Firm Sends 230 Million SMS Spams Daily

Some eighty percent of SMS spam in China is sent by just one company, according to an article published in theBeijing Morning Post.

"Focus Wireless' Zhengzhou subsidiary sends out 200 million SMS every single day - while several other company subsidiaries send out upwards of 30 million SMS per day."

[The Raw Feed via Cellular News]

Cellphone viruses a growing concern

Security systems can now block the first computer viruses attack on cell phones, but the mobile industry sees new risks stemming from upcoming open software platforms such as Google's Android.

[via Stuff]

Kenya: Using SMS to spread rumours

What An African Woman Thinks writes about negative uses of SMS in Kenya: “Regarding the escalating violence in Kenya, the ICRC spokesman in the country, one Bernard Barret is quoted as saying that rumours are being spread by mobile phone text messages predicting imminent attacks by one group or another and that this is heightening tensions.”

Sadly I can validate that this was the case even in the diaspora. Just before the election there was a text message circulated in the Kikuyu community declaring that an uncircumcised boy (they used the Kikuyu term kahee) can never be the next president of Kenya.

One Response to “Kenya: Using SMS to spread rumours”

The sad thing about hate is that it will always be transmitted through whatever communication channels are available to it. On the bright side the same thing can be said about love, peace and togetherness.

[via Global Voices Online]

Mobile Phone Death Threat "virus" Arrives in Angola

Phone users in Angola seem to have been hit by a variant of the fake phone warnings which affected many users in Pakistan and Afghanistan last year. The warnings, often spread by SMS, but also by word of mouth claimed that "as soon as you answer your phone blood comes out of your mouth, nose and ears and you die"

Unitel spokesman, Henrique da Silva, who considered the rumours as a "bad joke".

"It's a bad joke, and we are asking our customers to keep calm and we encourage you to handle your cellphones without any problems. There is no computing virus causing death to human beings", stressed the official."

[via Cellular News]

iPhone gets a virus

An iPhone virus has been reportedly making the rounds.

Uberphones thinks this may turn out to be a blessing in disguise for Apple because it only affects iPhone's which are unlocked.

Another odd thing, rumor has it the virus in question was designed by an 11-year old kid.