I better work out some measures I can take to secure my phone - otherwise I may end up with bizarre text messages saying I purchased a bunch of ringtones or something...
Nokia confirmed last week a big security flaw in its Series 40 operating system that allows hackers the ability to install and run remote code of any type on these phones without the users permission and consent. The consequences for this are enormous with over 100 million of these budget phones existing in the world. According to a quote from Techworld, “Nokia said it isn’t aware of attacks against Series 40 devices, and the problems do not represent a ’significant risk’.” However, if anyone stores any type of sensitive information on these phones, this current threat will eventually be exploited with zero-day attacks. If you have a Series 40 phone, I’m not sure of any specific things you can do, but by turning off any wireless radios, you’d be protecting yourself against a serious threat against your privacy. Of course, you’d then be removing the phone capability from your cell phone, so for now we’re stuck with this threat. Hopefully Nokia are taking this seriously and are coming up with a patch to fix this major security vulnerability.
Filed under: Spotlight | Tagged: Nokia, OS, security, Series 40
