Hasta La Gadget!

Text messaging over mobile carriers are going through tough times – in fact, for the first time in years, US text messaging actually went down in the third quarter of 2012, and this could very well be attributed mainly to services such as iMessage and Whatsapp. Mobile analyst Chetan Sharma claimed that mobile phone users sent an average of 678 texts per month, which is 18 fewer compared to the previous quarter. Granted, the change is not that large, but it does reflect a paradigm shift among smartphone users different services, including iMessage, Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger, as one needs not worry too much about the costs involved.

There are carriers like AT&T who intend to move with the times, and have decided to responded to data-based messaging programs with additional restrictions or perhaps even to introduce price hikes for the data. In fact, in July this year, AT&T actually altered their data plans to substantially raise rates for significant data users. Do you find yourself text messaging more often than before, or less, or have you completely moved on to platforms like Whatsapp?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Swimming coach jailed due to oversight in SMS recipients, Woman texted her way down a cliff in Alaska,

Reports are coming in from the Google Voice help forums that SMS messages sent through Google Voice are being sent from random numbers. There are multiple complaints, including for voice SMS, claiming that the incorrect numbers are random, and different for each message. More »

SMS phishing isn’t anything new. It’s been around for some time now, but researchers at North Carolina State University have discovered a vulnerability in Android that could bring back the practice in a big way. The vulnerability affects devices running Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich, and Jelly Bean platforms for Android.

SMS phishing is just like how it sounds. If you downloads an app infected with malware, the app can make it appear as if you’re receiving text messages from someone on your phone’s contact list. Obviously, these fake text messages can solicit personal information from you, such as passwords for user accounts and bank information.

Google has confirmed the vulnerability and has said that a fix will be issued “in a future Android release.” Whether if this will be in an incremental update, such as Android 4.2.1, or even the next major release of Android, like the rumored Android 4.3 Key Lime Pie, isn’t yet known, but it seems Google isn’t too worried about it at this point.

For now, however, the researchers recommend simply just taking extreme caution when downloading and installing apps, especially from unknown sources. Plus, they recommend users pay close attention to text messages and confirm that you’re actually talking to someone you know, rather than a bot that is attempting to steal personal information.

[via Engadget]

Android SMS phishing vulnerability discovered by researchers is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you’re reading this blog, there’s a good chance that you can connect to the Internet on a fairly regular basis. But even with the advent of Wi-Fi and mobile data connections, there are still many places where you won’t have access to the Internet. That’s why Google came up with a way for Gmail users to send and receive email via text messages or SMS.

The service is simply called Gmail SMS. Because calling it Esmsmail or Smsemail is just absurd. For now it’s only available in Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya. Customers only need to register the mobile number that they’d like to tie to their Gmail account and they’ll be able to send and receive email from their phone.

Because it’s in the form of a text message, customers can receive Gmail SMS from practically any mobile phone. Another nice thing about it is that receiving Gmail SMS is free. Standard network charges will only apply if you want to send an email from your phone via the service. I hope Google eventually rolls out this service to more countries.

[via Google Africa via Memeburn via Emergent Futures]

Most Android malware lives in the margins, away from Google Play and the more reliable app shops. It’s nonetheless a good idea to be on the lookout for rogue code, and McAfee has stepped in with thorough explanations of how one of the most common scamware strains, Android.FakeInstaller, works its sinister ways. The bait is typically a search-optimized fake app market or website; the apps themselves not only present a legitimate-looking front but include dynamic code to stymie any reverse engineering. Woe be to anyone who’s tricked long enough to finish the installation, as the malware often sends text messages to expensive premium phone numbers or links target devices to botnets. The safeguard? McAfee would like you to sign up for its antivirus suite, but you can also keep a good head on your shoulders — stick to trustworthy shops and look for dodgy behavior before anything reaches your device.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google

McAfee shows how major Android scamware ticks, prevents us from learning first-hand originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Oct 2012 06:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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