HELSINKI (Reuters) –
Accessing your bank account using your mobile phone might seem safe, but security experts say would-be hackers can access confidential information via a simple text message seemingly from your service provider.
People in the industry aware of the risk see it as extremely small, as only a few people use handsets to access their bank accounts, but it is growing as mobile Internet usage rises.
In April, the flaw — which enables criminals to access a cell phone data connection, steal data or install or remove programs — gained wider attention at the BlackHat Europe security conference.
"The hacker does not have to be especially skilled to do this," said Jukka Tuomi, chief technology officer at Finnish software firm ErAce Security Solutions.
ErAce said that in some phones using Microsoft’s Windows software, users cannot block the attack, while Symbian phone users can block malicious messages.
However, in practice, most users accept an installation of new settings if they seem to be from an operator.
So far, security problems on cell phones have been mostly limited to small outbreaks as operators have been able to screen the data traffic, but the new risk could be out of their reach in many countries where screening text messages is not allowed.
Textual content messaging has change into an integral part of our day-to-day lives. Nobody can deny the insurmountable amount of comfort it has allowed us when attending matters of both our private and business affairs. The power to ship fast messages on the go is what makes text messaging so engaging that most of us simply can’t live without it. It has really transcended from a mere luxury to a necessity as evidenced by the heavy inflow of cell phones in the market today. Among them, the Apple iPhone is probably the one which garnered probably the most public adulation. It is as a result of the iPhone is the first telephone that mixed the powers of each cellphone and computer.