Spam and security concerns a growing issue for SMS

Two stories surfaced today about potential problems for SMS. They concern spam attacks through text messages and special texts that can destroy the SMS functions of a mobile phone.

Spam:

A recent survey from Cloudmark shows that all the top 12 mobile operators across Europe anticipate more and more spam SMS. This is driven by mass adoption of mobile social networking and mobile email. Cloudmark also reports that only two of these companies are actually looking into ways to combat the problem. The others believe it’s not a big problem, and they can wait until later to tackle it.

Neil Cook, head of technology services EMEA, Cloudmark, says, “It’s imperative mobile operators take all spam seriously and implement security solutions now to prevent losing customers. In a related survey we conducted earlier this year, 2/3 of customers would consider leaving their mobile network due to spam. So, the threat of losing customers as a result of increased spam is one that providers should take seriously.”

SMS shut-down:

Researcher Tobias Engel has revealed a way to use specially formatted SMS messages to wage a denial-of-service attack on a victim’s phone. The special text targets phones running recent versions of Symbian, including the Nokia Series 60 phone versions 2.6, 2.8, 3.0, 3.1, and the Sony Ericsson UiQ.

Speaking at the Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin, Engel said “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. Phone manufacturers and network operators have to make sure that there is a way to quickly deploy bug-fix firmware releases to phones, free of charge to the user.”

Samu Konttinen, vice president of the Mobile Business Unit at F-Secure said: “Performing the attack does not require technical expertise, and due to this, there is a risk of it becoming a nuisance.”

What we think?

Scary stuff. But every year starts with someone screaming about security. Security firms traditionally create a good scare at the start of the year so that companies will invest heavily in security measures.

But there’s no smoke without fire. It was really only a matter of time. More and more uses have been found for SMS in the mobile web. SMS has practically become the data revolution. It’s huge! It’s how users communicate with each other and with a vast number of functions of mobile internet. Newer models of smartphones have made it easier and faster to write texts. Mobile web apps and mobile social networks have made it easier and faster to send texts. The increase in SMS take-up was bound to attract vultures and opportunists. The thing that worries me most is Cloudmarks claim that the major operators aren’t looking into ways to combat it.

Related News:

1. All mass SMS in India now tagged with anti-spam ID code
2. Malicious Android App raises serious mobile device security concerns
3. Barclays Bank offers free security software for mobile Internet users
4. AdaptiveMobile unveils Spam is upwardly mobile on its 30th birthday!
5. US takes mobile spam and other abuse seriously