50 Arrested Over Smartphone Spyware

Romanian authorities have arrested 50 individuals accused of using off-the-shelf software to monitor mobile phone communications of their spouses, competitors, and others, according to news reports.

The Romanian Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism also arrested Dan Nicolae Oproiu, a 30-year-old IT specialist who allegedly sold the spyware for as much as $580 over the internet. Officials claim his software was available for handsets running the iPhone, Blackberry, Symbian, and Windows Mobile operating systems, and came in Light, Pro, and Pro-X versions that offered varying levels of services.

Speculation is that that Oproiu was reselling FlexiSPY, a package that’s long been marketed to people who want to catch cheating spouses, stop employee espionage, protect children, and bug meeting rooms. The Pro-X version allows a user to listen to calls in real-time, surreptitiously read SMS, call logs, and email, and convert the targeted phone into a remote bugging device that can secretly capture the sounds in its immediate vicinity.

ACMA Research Shows Australians Would Use Mobile Phone Payment Methods

Research undertaken by ACMA has found that Australians would welcome using their mobile phones as payment methods but that current awareness of the possibility is low.

Qualitative research has found that while premium SMS is the most well established mobile payment method it is not widely seen as such. Instead it is seen as a way to purchase digital for example ringtones and mobile phone wallpapers as well as for voting on TV shows and for competition entry

Research respondents felt that “Tweenies” (those aged 8-14 years) were most likely to be targeted and to use premium SMS services. Many consider this age groups to be vulnerable to manipulation using mobile phones for payment methods as most do not have access and control over other traditional forms of payment such as credit cards.

There has been somewhat of a backlash against premium SMS recently. Tales of unexpectedly large bills racked up without the users full knowledge are scaring lots of consumers away from using premium SMS. USA based Telco Exetel has gone as far to protect it’s customers by blocking all premium SMS by default. Exetel claims this simple move has removed up to 90% of their billing disputes.

Looking at alternative payment methods the report has identified a number of new mobile payment technologies to be looked at including contactless or “wave and pay”, “person to person” transfers and payments that are linked to users’ to bank accounts.

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Mobile Cellular Subscriptions Per 100 People by Country – Data Provided by The World Bank

Having trouble convincing the powers that be within your organisation that you should be using SMS as part of your daily customer operations?

It might be an idea to show them this recent data provided by The World Bank. If they still need convincing after seeing the data then don’t despair as they probably won’t be in their job(s) for too much longer!

Mobile cellular telephone subscriptions are subscriptions to a public mobile telephone service using cellular technology, which provide access to the public switched telephone network. Post-paid and prepaid subscriptions are included.

This is the Short Table of Popular Countries

Source: International Telecommunication Union, World Telecommunication Development Report World Bank estimates and the International Telecommunication Union.

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CellTrust Corporation Wins MobileTrax 2010 Mobility Award for SecureSMS Messaging

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA, USA – April 21, 2010 – CellTrust Corporation, the world’s largest provider of SecureSMS for mobile phones (www.celltrust.com), announced today the company has received the MobilieTrax 2010 Mobility Award in the Messaging category for its SecureSMS solution.

The 2010 Mobility Awards honour the best mobile computing and wireless data communications products and services introduced to the market during the past year, according to MobileTrax, a leading mobile and wireless industry analyst firm headed by industry veteran Gerry Purdy.

“We are pleased with MobileTrax’s recognition of our SecureSMS technology and the value it brings to the industry,” said Sean Moshir, Chairman and CEO of CellTrust. “This award further endorses our vision to address the gaps that exist with basic SMS by bringing a secure messaging solution to government, healthcare and the financial services industries throughout the world.”
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FDA ruling on mobile image viewers could shake iPhone app market

In January a moment that all kinds of mobile application developers have long feared finally arrived.

When the FDA decided that an iPhone image viewer from Cleveland-based vendor MIMvista was a class III medical device that requires pre-market approval.

Read the full article here on the Fierce Mobile Healthcare web site.

Three Spaniards Suspected Of Infecting 13 Million Computers Arrested In Spain

According to an article published hours ago by CNN Spanish authorities have arrested three Spaniards suspected of infecting 13 million computers with a program that would allow them to steal personal and financial data from around the world.

Story highlights from CNN,

• Authorities arrest trio suspected of infecting 13 million computers
• The virus allegedly infected computers in more than 190 countries
• It installs a program that lets hackers steal personal, financial information
• The three suspects were arrested last week

Click here to read the full article on CNN.com

Fierce Mobile Contents Reports That Facebook Mobile has Surpassed 100 Million Users

Mobile access to sites such as Facebook is growing at an ever increasing rate. Fierce Mobile Content has reported that the popular site “Facebook” has now gone past the 100 million user mark.

Here is an excerpt from the article,

Writing on the Facebook blog, vice president of user growth, mobile and international Chamath Palihapitiya said its mobile footprint stretches across virtually every operator worldwide, adding the company collaborates with all major device manufacturers and operators to optimize the user experience for thousands of different handset models as well as multiple operating systems and networks.

Read the full article on the Fierce Mobile Content web site.

TMCnet.com Security Featured Article: Celltrust’s SecureSMS Enables Secure Messaging to Users – February 10, 2010

Raja Singh Chaudhary from TMCnet.com has posted a nice article about CellTrusts “CellTrust Views 2010 as Mobile Security Milestone Year as Governments Regulators and Corporate Security Officers Evaluate How to Protect the Mobile Information Flow of Over 4 Billion Mobile Devices” press release.

Here is an excerpt from the article,

CellTrust, a provider of secure mobile messaging and applications has predicted that the year 2010 is going to mark a milestone as far as mobile security and SMS security in particular is concerned. Mobile devices and text messaging have become more and more intrinsic to everyday life and work and cyber criminals have begun moving to this channel.

Read the article in full on the TMCnet.com web site.

Dennis Blair – Director of National Intelligence – Yesterday Before the US Senate

“Malicious cyberactivity is occurring on an unprecedented scale with extraordinary sophistication,” he told the committee.

There are growing concerns among American intelligence officials about the calamitous potential of a well coordinated attack on the United States IT Infrastructure. this type of attack could result in what is often referred to as a “cyber-Pearl Harbor.”

Mr Dennis Blair said that the recent increase in cyberattacks citing the penetration of Google’s servers from within China, was a “wake-up call” for anyone wanting to diminish or dismiss the threat of computer warfare.

“Sensitive information is stolen daily from both government and private-sector networks, undermining confidence in our information systems, and in the very information these systems were intended to convey”.

CellTrust to Bring Secure Messaging to Nigerian Banks

There was an article about the CellTrust Africa and Maxim-Pro announcement published on the Phoenix Business Journal web site.

The following is an excerpt from the published article:

CellTrust and its African subsidiary have signed a deal to supply Nigerian banks with a way to provide secure messaging. The Scottsdale company, which developed a secure messaging system for mobile banking and payment services, will supply the product to Nigerian banks required to meet new standards.

Click here to read the full article on the Phoenix Business Journal web site