Smartphone Attacks Coming, Says RIM Security Exec

Security for smartphones has not been a big concern for most lately, but Research In Motion's security VP cautioned yesterday that malicious hackers could use today’s smartphone devices to target wireless carriers with distributed denial of service attacks (DDOS). Increasingly popular, smartphones like the Palm Pre, iPhone, Motorola Droid and Research In Motion's BlackBerry Bold 9700 are sure to tempt hackers to crack smartphone security measures for their own gain.

In a DDOS attack, hackers use phone signals to command zombie networks of thousands computers to contact a targeted site repeatedly, slowing it or eventually crashing it, as was the case when Twitter went offline for hours last August. "I think that's an area of concern," said Scott Totzke vice-president of BlackBerry security at RIM. Except instead of Twitter going offline, it will a wireless carrier’s cell network, with wireless data packets being used to overload the system.

Software capable of launching data packet based DDOS attacks could come from user installed apps infected with sleeper worm viruses. Smartphone users will need to be more security conscious and update their apps and handset firmware as security patches are released. Virus infected versions of trusted, widely used applications like Google's Google Maps for mobile have already been identified by security consultants. Totzke recommends Blackberry users monitor RIM's security bulletins page for security patches and aggressively install any available fixes.