text messages

Serious new denial-of-service attack against certain Nokia phones surfaces

Paul Mah — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:05:38 -0500

A new exploit involving text messages was demonstrated this week against several models of Nokia mobile phones. According to researcher Tobias Engel, of the Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin, a specially formatted text message, or SMS could be sent to silently crash the SMS inboxes of phones running versions 8 through 9.2 of the Symbian operating systems. This problem also affects the Nokia Series 60 phone versions 2.6 through 3.1, as well as Sony Ericsson's UiQ.

Even powering off and on the victimized phone won't stop or reset the effects of the attack, which ranges from being unable to receive new SMSs to general phone instability. Indeed, the malicious messages do not trigger any warning, and are in effect invisible. This also means that once received, users will not be able to locate and delete these messages.

On the bright side, Engel noted, "At least it is not possible to steal user data from the phones or make calls at other people's expense. But it shows again that mobile phones are just computers which are connected to the network all the time."

Finally, Engel pointed out that phone manufacturers and network operators should create ways to quickly deploy new firmware that fixes bugs to phones that is free of charge to the end-user. "Symbian Update" anyone? No firmware update or workaround is available at this point.

To read more about this story:
- check out this article from DarkReading
- check out this video from YouTube

Forwarding your text messages to your email

Paul Mah — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:13:04 -0500

I came across txtForward earlier today, which I thought was worth a mention here. As its name suggests, txtForward automatically forwards incoming or outgoing text messages to a specified email address. This could be a boon for the heavy text user who might just want a simple and reliable way to archive their messages. And in case you didn't realize, text messaging is apparently being used by teens to avoid taking phone calls by their parents.

Anyway, the unfortunate state of affair is that most smartphones simply do not treat text messages as important, and hence are generally limited in terms of message-level searching, as well as in their backup and archival.

Available for the BlackBerry and Windows Mobile, the BlackBerry version of the software worked flawlessly for me. Of course, the trial is limited to only 10 forwarded messages, so my experience with it is limited. One downside for privacy advocates is that the emails are sent out via Electric Pocket's servers, though the company gave assurance on its website that no logging, recording, or monitoring of messages takes place.

To read more on the article:
- check out this product from Electric Pocket

Mobile operators faces suit over texts

Paul Mah — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 07:26:01 -0400

Subscribers in Canada are furious with Canadian mobile operators Telus and Bell Mobility over changes that will see them paying a 15-cent charge for each incoming text--including spam. Unlike the situation in the United States, this is a departure from the current situation in which users are not charged for incoming text messages. Bell plans to start charging on Friday, while Telus wants to implement the new policy at the end of August. Some customers are not amused, and the two companies could be facing separate class-action lawsuits over the unilateral changes of the cellular contract. The case will be presented in September where a judge will first have to approve the class action suits.

For more on the story:
- check out this article from InformationWeek

E.U. to regulate roaming charges for text messaging

Paul Mah — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:00:06 -0400

The European Commission will announce new legislation that is proposed to reduce tariffs that users have to pay when sending or receiving text messages when roaming. A report in January pegged the average rate that users have to pay for text messages in the third quarter of last year to be $0.50. The decision to reduce the roaming costs of text messages comes one year after price caps for voice roaming were introduced. That earlier move benefited consumers as it resulted in lower tariffs of 60 percent across the E.U. No price cap has been decided on for text messages at the moment.

For more on the story:
- check out this article from New York Times

Citi lets customers in the Philippines make text message credit card purchases

Paul Mah — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:04:25 -0400

Citi Mobile is allowing users to authorize credit card transactions by texting or calling merchants rather than the traditional approach of swiping their credit cards. Already, the bank has deals with retailers, as well as restaurants such as McDonald's, to allow users to remotely pay for their goods and have them delivered. Other services, such as the purchase of Internet access time and paying of utility bills via their handsets, are also possible.

The heavy use of SMS in the Philippines makes them an ideal candidate for a text messaging-based service. Unlike the United States, text messaging costs just under $0.02 per message, and is much cheaper than prepaid voice minutes. In fact, the average usage of text messages is now 12-15 SMS per day, according to Citi. Mobile commerce might actually be upon us at long last.

For more on Citi's plan for text messaging-based payments:
- check out the Finextra article

Texting gets more expensive

Paul Mah — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:31:37 -0400

The cost of sending text messages has gone up since 2005, from 10 to 20 cents per message. What is ironic here is that text messages cost carriers next to nothing to transmit. Now, let's assume for a moment that text messages are not carried in the reserved field of packet headers, and actually consume valuable data bytes. Even so, the 140 bytes of data taken by each text message is puny compared to the bandwidth (and protocol overhead) of transferring emails or downloading files such as mp3s over a cellular network. The question is: Why are users allowing mobile operators to get away with such blatant price hikes?

For more on the rising cost of texting:
- check out this CNET News article

Blackberry message tracking

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 06:59:58 -0500

Corporate governance and regulatory compliance require, in many cases, that we capture calls and communications made to or from employees. The problem, so far, is that it's been nearly impossible to capture those calls if made from a Blackberry that's part of the corporate mobile infrastructure. Now, though, software from Guava will allow voice calls and text messages made to or from corporate Blackberrys to be tracked with the same efficiency and effectiveness as calls made from desktop phone instruments. Employees who want to sneak information around will have to start looking for new means of communication.

For more on Guava's software:
- Read the new-product article at IT World

CallWave quiets untimely ringing

Sun, 01 Jul 2007 20:01:38 -0400

It never fails--a cell call comes in at the worst possible time. You don't want the phone to disturb others in the theater, movie theater, meeting, church service, or other quiet place, but you don't want to miss critical calls, either. Enter CallWave, which converts voice messages to text messages and sends them to your phone. Just make sure the announcement for SMS is set to "vibrate," and you're good to go.

For more on CallWave:
Read the product article at Wired.com

Text messaging moves up

Sun, 22 Apr 2007 20:01:38 -0400

Circumstances and technology are changing in tandem to make text messaging an increasingly important part of an organization's communications strategy. With devices like the Sidekick becoming more common, corporate IT groups are realizing that they have a significant new avenue for communicating with employees. In the wake of the tragedy at Virginia Tech, organizations are taking a more urgent look at messaging technology to meet the needs of emergency notification and communications with employees and students. Evidence is mounting that, while email can go unanswered (and unopened) for days, people respond quickly to the arrival of text messages.

For more on text messaging in urgent communications:
- Read the analysis at eWeek

3GSM Congress brings new cell uses

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 19:01:37 -0500

A phone's no longer a phone, it seems, especially when the phone is attached to a 3GSM network. Dictating text messages, requesting map routes and updating social networking pages are some of the functions that handset vendors and service providers believe users should be clamoring for. On the other end of the scale are phones that recognize the feature overload experiences by many users; these phones have as few as six brightly-colored buttons for simplified device navigation. More or fewer buttons, richer or simpler features--regardless of the direction taken, it's a ways from "just a phone."

For more on the evolving handset:
- read the article at CIO Today