Hasta La Gadget!

Security researchers plan to reveal a security hole that would enable hackers to take complete control of an iPhone with a text-messaging attack.

Security researchers Charlie Miller and Collin Mulliner will publicize the exploit Thursday at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference, according to Forbes. The researchers said the hack involves sending a series of mostly invisible SMS bursts that effectively hijack an iPhone. From thereon, a hacker could control all the functions on the iPhone, such as e-mailing, dialing contacts — and, most alarmingly, sending more text messages to hijack even more iPhones.

How can you know if you’re being SMS attacked? According to Miller, one giveaway is if you receive a text message containing a single square character. If that happens, he suggests you immediately turn off your iPhone.

“This is serious,” Miller told Forbes. “The only thing you can do to prevent it is turn off your phone. Someone could pretty quickly take over every iPhone in the world with this.”

Though many customers hail the iPhone as one of the most well designed and versatile smartphones, security researchers have criticized the phone for its weak security. For example, Wired.com recently reported on forensics researcher Jonathan Zdziarski’s discovery that the new iPhone 3GS’ data encryption can be cracked in a few minutes with free software. Because of this flaw, Zdziarski recommended against the iPhone being used by businesses.

Miller and Mulliner said they contacted Apple about the SMS exploit a month ago, but the company has not released a software update to fix the issue. Apple did not immediately respond to Wired.com’s request for comment.

Though the researchers informed Forbes of the SMS exploit, it’s worth noting they did not demonstrate it to Forbes. We’ll be convinced this is true once we see it.

For ongoing coverage of the Black Hat conference, read Wired.com’s Threat Level.

See Also:

• iPhone Jailbreaking Could Crash Cellphone Towers, Apple Claims …
• Hacker Says iPhone 3GS Encryption Is ‘Useless’ for Businesses …
• Help Wanted: iPhone Hacker for Apple
• IPhone Can Take Screenshots of Anything You Do
• Hacker Will Break iPhone Security on Video

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

It’s already been banned by a number of states and the District of Columbia, but a group of Democratic senators led by New York’s Charles Schumer are now set to introduce legislation that would ban texting while driving throughout the United States. That, as you may be aware if you’ve been watching the news this past week, follows a study from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, which found that truck drivers that texted while driving were 23 times more likely to get into an accident than non-texters — to say nothing of several calls for a ban from major safety groups over the years. While complete details on the proposed bill are still a bit light, it would apparently withhold 25% of the annual federal highway funding from states that did not comply with the ban, and would reportedly be modeled on the way the national drunken driving ban was introduced.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation

Senators to introduce legislation banning texting while driving originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Pre might have slowed the drain at Sprint but it hasn’t managed to turn things around completely — America’s number three carrier posted a second-quarter loss of $384m as it lost another 257,000 subscribers. That just continues Sprint’s trend of bleeding customers to the competition, and we doubt this balance sheet will turn around anytime soon — not only will next quarter reflect the $483m purchase of Virgin Mobile USA, it’s pretty clear that Verizon will get the Pre and AT&T will carry another webOS handset, leaving Mr. Hesse and crew without their shiny halo device to lure new subs to the fold. We’ll see what Sprint does to turn this all around — did someone say they need a Hero?

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Sprint loses $384m, 257k subscribers in first quarter of Pre availability originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Upon the initial release of PlayStation Home (a free service for owners of the PS3), fanboys were abuzz with the opportunity to play around in their own 3-D realm. The service promised to be an interactive social network, but after its release, there was an outcry of disappointment. Users could create their Avatars and prance about the square well enough, but there was nothing to do–most likened the experience to Second Life, but with better graphics.

Since then, the European developers have been trying to make amends with fresh content and something for users to do besides dance and wait in a line to go bowling. After taking a look at the Home network at the PlayStation Editor’s Holiday Showcase, I was happy to see that a new world of content has been added to the once-desolate network.

Developers have created miniature worlds that users can visit to preview games and interact with the environment. For instance, there is an inFamous setting where users can play an electric shooting game, paint graffiti on the walls, and explore (possibly find small hints to use in-game).

These worlds featured within Home may go unnoticed by users who first downloaded the PlayStation 3 social network and have not bothered to revisit it. But there is now content being added and updated that is worth thier attention.

Barnes & Noble customers have had access to paid Wi-Fi hotspots at individual outlets of the popular nationwide bookseller since 2005. The company announced yesterday that it has signed a strategic agreement with AT&T to implement free and unlimited access to all of its 777 stores’ wireless networks.

This move seems to be intended, at least in part, to help support the company’s ever-expanding eBook initiative. We reviewed Barnes & Noble’s new eReader application last week, and this move seems like an excellent way to keep the company’s enormous list of titles at the forefront of everyone’s minds. Giving everyone with a wireless device instant access to preview and download over 700,000 eBook titles (including hundreds of thousands of additional public-domain selections from Google) is a terrific marketing tool.

And this strategy doesn’t end there. Customers who opt in will also be able to receive special offers and useful information directly over the network. The company is currently suggesting such things as coupons to in-store cafés, information on book signings, and specific instructions on how to find new releases as being among the potential benefits for customers.