At least I know my mom is safe. She still uses one of these.
Posted on 07/22/2013 9:35:25 PM PDT by TexGrill
A UN group that advises nations on cybersecurity plans to send out an alert about significant vulnerabilities in mobile phone technology that could potentially enable hackers to remotely attack at least half a billion cellphones.
The bug, discovered by German firm, allows hackers to remotely gain control of and also clone certain mobile SIM cards.
Hackers could use compromised SIMs to commit financial crimes or engage in electronic espionage, according to Berlin’s Security Research Labs, which will describe the vulnerabilities at the Black Hat hacking conference that opens in Las Vegas on July 31.
The UN’s Geneva-based International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which has reviewed the research, described it as “hugely significant.”
“These findings show us where we could be heading in terms of cybersecurity risks,” ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Toure said.
He said the agency would notify telecommunications regulators and other government agencies in nearly 200 countries about the potential threat and also reach out to hundreds of mobile companies, academics and other industry experts.
A spokeswoman for the GSM Association (GSMA), which represents nearly 800 mobile operators worldwide, said it also reviewed the research.
“We have been able to consider the implications and provide guidance to those network operators and SIM vendors that may be impacted,” GSMA spokeswoman Claire Cranton said.
(Excerpt) Read more at taipeitimes.com ...
At least I know my mom is safe. She still uses one of these.
Sorry. The NSA has been monitoring your mom’s phone since the 1980’s.
That’s cool. I bet it’s never malfunctioned, either.
Cellphone hacking is a well developed art form.
People would be shocked to learn what can be done with that little computer/rf device.
If the government had allowed strong encryption to be used in cellphones then we would all be a lot less exposed.
What is needed is an open-source cellphone platform with strong encryption.
In a few years mobile phone and data service will be free. The opportunity for directed advertizing is just too great. The likely entity to bring it about is Google... I wish I had more faith in their ethics.
You mean we’ll just purchase the phone and the service will be free?
Yep, and in certain instances the device may be free or even come with goodies and $$$ as sweeteners...especially likely if you give access to personal data that would help to target ads or use the device to make purchases which would give Google a small cut of the transaction...just like credit cards do.
Google has a free phone service already... I have used it to make all my long distance calls for quite a while now.
A 500-D? Where is she that the system is compatible?
Would one need to meet some kind of quota on purchases?
I had no idea about Google’s phone service but nothing surprises me now.
Thanks for the info.
BTW: The phone service is called Google Voice.
It gives me a free local phone number in El Paso.
That number lets my old friends from that area call my current phone toll free. You can choose any large city as the location of your free phone number.
I live in the boonies now and the way this works for me is I go online and on my Google Voice page I enter the phone number I wish to call and in a second or two my phone rings...when I pick up I hear the number I called ringing as though I had dialed them.
I probably use about 30 hours a month of totally free long distance.
It more than offsets the cost of my internet connection and it is so nice having a free local number in El Paso.
Sounds a little like Skype. I’m a Tech retard and the more simple the better for me. I use a Track phone from Walmart. LOL
I’m in southwest Colo. and the closest large city would be Alb.
Thanks—I’ll check it out.
She’s in a suburb of New York that still has copper POTS. I’m old enough to remember using these phones but the expression on kids faces today when they see it or have to use it is priceless.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.