Secure SMS Today

CellTrust Prepares NFC Provisioning APIs Using SecureSMS for Carriers and Banks as NFC Technology Rollout Begins in 2011

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 20:05:22 +0000

CellTrust Removes Major Obstacle for Mobile Operators and Banks by Delivering OTA (Over-The-Air) NFC Configuration and Provisioning

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA, USA – August 25, 2010 – CellTrust Corporation, the world’s largest provider of SecureSMS for mobile phones (www.celltrust.com), announced today that it is preparing patent-pending, NFC-provisioning APIs using SecureSMS, in anticipation of NFC technology rollout beginning in early 2011.

NFC (Near Field Communication) is a short-range wireless communication standard that bundles a contactless chip with a contactless reader inside the mobile device. With NFC technology, consumers can simply wave or tap their phone within a few inches of a reader to transfer information to their mobile phone or to complete a mobile payment or transaction.

Designed to make life much easier for the end-user, provisioning NFC will require the carrier to send sensitive and confidential information to the mobile subscriber’s handset. While a few methods exist to provision NFC, CellTrust believes SMS is the optimal choice because it uses the mobile communications control channel, which is separate from voice and data and operates regardless of the voice or data being used. The control channel has high resiliency, low bandwidth requirements and was designed for carriers to send specific commands and instructions to the handset via SMS. It is important to note that standard SMS is not secure and can be spoofed. Provisioning NFC with CellTrust’s SecureSMS APIs addresses spoofing with a fully authenticated, government-grade, highly encrypted, tamper-proof process, which also enables message sizes up to 5,000 characters.

“At Juniper Research we forecast that 1 in 6 subscribers globally will have NFC phones by 2014,” said Howard Wilcox, Senior Analyst, Juniper Research. “NFC is all about ease and convenience for users although the first question from users usually relates to security. This announcement by CellTrust is an important development to quell peoples’ security concerns and enable the rollout of NFC enabled mobile wallets.”

NFC has the potential to be a significant, pervasive technology, but the lack of NFC chips in existing handsets and security concerns have held the industry back from wide-scale integration of mobile payments on NFC-equipped devices. CellTrust’s NFC solution could be a key driver in finally bringing mobile payments to NFC devices and unlocking the market potential for this technology.

CellTrust’s SecureSMS NFC APIs use Short Message Service Center (SMSC) and allow carriers to use their existing investment in SMS infrastructure while provisioning NFC, therefore a new NFC platform is not required. Carriers can easily integrate with the SecureSMS APIs and send secure commands and instructions to the handset to provision NFC with all types of transactions, including adding and deleting credit cards. CellTrust’s technology addresses the security gaps that exist with basic SMS, paving the way for NFC-enabled mobile devices to be securely used as an “electronic wallet.”

SecureSMS also gives mobile network operators an added level of security for OTA (Over-The-Air) configuration and provisioning of mobile devices compared to today’s standard SMS infrastructure, which is not tamper proof and can be spoofed.

“CellTrust’s SecureSMS NFC solution will make it easy for carriers and banks to implement and integrate NFC,” said Sean Moshir, Chairman and CEO of CellTrust. “We believe the cost savings for mobile operators will be substantial, since they will be utilizing their existing SMSC infrastructure.”

CellTrust’s SecureSMS Appliance is the first global enterprise appliance to offer secure SMS communication for handset to handset and enterprise applications to handsets with highly encrypted end-to-end security in compliance with HIPAA, FISMA, and Sarbanes-Oxley, ensuring that information is kept private and only delivered to the intended recipient. CellTrust’s award winning SecureSMS™ Appliance and Gateway reaches 200+ countries and over 800 carriers.

CellTrust SecureSMS™ Appliance was named winner of many industry awards by CTIA, Mobile Marketing Association, RCR Magazine, MobileTrax, and more.

About CellTrust Corporation

CellTrust is a leading provider of secure mobile messaging and applications. CellTrust’s patent pending Secure SMS Gateway™ featuring the SecureSMS™ Appliance and a suite of mobile applications provide advanced secure mobile messaging and information management solutions across 200+ countries and over 700 carriers. CellTrust ensures the secure and trusted exchange of information on mobile devices to the financial services, healthcare, government, education, energy, information technology, marketing, and travel, among other global industries. For more information about CellTrust’s Global, African, North American and Australian operations: www.celltrust.com, www.africa.celltrust.com, www.celltrust.com.au.

50 Arrested Over Smartphone Spyware

admin — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 02:42:02 +0000

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.

Smartphone Apps Spying On You

admin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 01:40:24 +0000

I just came across an interesting article on the India Times web site titled “Smartphone apps are spying on you”. It goes on to explain that a cellphone security firm found many free applications downloaded and used on iPhones and phones running Android pulled sensitive information off the phone and sent the data to a third party.

Here is an excerpt from the article,

Lookout Inc, a cellphone security firm, scanned nearly 300,000 free applications for Apple Inc’s iPhone and phones built around Google Inc’s Android software. It found that many of them secretly pull sensitive data off phones and ship them off to third parties without notification.

The data can include full details about users’ contacts, their pictures, text messages and internet and search histories. The third parties can include advertisers and companies that analyze data on users. The information is used by companies to target ads and learn more about their users. The danger, though, is that the data become vulnerable to hacking and use in identity theft if the third party isn’t careful about securing the information.

Lookout found that nearly a quarter of the iPhone apps and almost half the Android apps contained software code that contained those capabilities.

Click here to read the article in full.

ACMA Research Shows Australians Would Use Mobile Phone Payment Methods

admin — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 03:11:33 +0000

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.

Out of the offered options, survey respondents said they felt most comfortable with mobile payment systems provided by banking and finance institutions as the respondents believe that these organisations have better fraud protections in place. This is not surprising given the poor public image of most Australian telcos. Poor consumer practice fuelled by the poor consumer practices across the board have seen consumer complaints continue their steep rise.

Whilst consumers were generally happy about using different forms of mobile payment methods, they were more concerned about the risks of linking mobile payments to credit cards and/or bank accounts, preferring to use a “limited funds” model similar to the debit cards that recently rocketed in popularity.

When looking at potential users of mobile payments, the report found younger people (18-35) as well as empty nesters are most likely to warm to new mobile payments. Less “digitally literate” blue collar workers and respondents from regional areas were the most resistant to new payment methods.

You can read the full ACMA report here.

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

admin — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 01:21:00 +0000

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

Country	2005	2006	2007	2008
Australia	90	95	101	103
Canada	53	57	61	66
China	30	35	42	48
Denmark	101	107	116	125
Finland	100	108	115	129
France	79	84	89	93
Germany	96	104	117	129
India	8.24	15	21	30
Indonesia	21	29	42	62
Malaysia	76	75	88	103
Netherlands, The	97	106	118	125
New Zealand	85	91	101	108
Norway	103	104	107	110
Russian Federation	84	106	120	141
Singapore	103	109	129	132
South Africa	72	84	88	92
United Kingdom	109	116	121	126
United States	72	81	87	89

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

This is the Long Table of All Countries With Available Data

Country	2005	2006	2007	2008
Afghanistan	4.48	9.16	17	27
Albania	49	61	74	100
Algeria	42	63	81	93
Andorra	83	86	77	77
Angola	9.7	18	28	38
Antigua and Barbuda	103	130	131	158
Argentina	57	81	102	117
Armenia	10	41	61	100
Aruba	102	106	109	115
Australia	90	95	101	103
Austria	105	112	119	130
Azerbaijan	27	39	53	75
Bahamas, The	70	77	112	106
Bahrain	105	122	147	186
Bangladesh	5.88	12	22	28
Barbados	81	93	132	159
Belarus	42	61	72	84
Belgium	92	93	101	110
Belize	41	40	38	50
Benin	7.58	13	23	40
Bermuda	83	94	108	123
Bhutan	5.54	12	22	37
Bolivia	26	31	34	50
Bosnia and Herzegovina	42	50	65	84
Botswana	31	44	61	77
Brazil	46	53	64	78
Brunei Darussalam	63	80	91	96
Bulgaria	81	107	129	138
Burkina Faso	4.61	7.15	11	17
Burundi	2.07	2.63	3.44	5.95
Cambodia	7.66	12	18	29
Cameroon	13	17	24	32
Canada	53	57	61	66
Cape Verde	17	22	31	56
Central African Republic	2.44	2.63	3.05	3.55
Chad	2.1	4.51	8.65	17
Chile	65	76	84	88
China	30	35	42	48
Colombia	51	68	77	92
Comoros	2.59	6.01	11	15
Congo, Rep.	16	26	36	50
Costa Rica	25	33	34	42
Cote d’Ivoire	12	21	37	51
Croatia	82	99	113	133
Cuba	1.21	1.36	1.77	2.96
Cyprus	94	103	116	118
Czech Republic	115	121	128	132
Denmark	101	107	116	125
Djibouti	5.47	5.47	8.34	13
Dominica	72	99	122	137
Dominican Republic	38	48	56	72
Ecuador	48	64	75	86
Egypt, Arab Rep.	18	23	38	51
El Salvador	40	63	101	113
Equatorial Guinea	16	22	34	52
Eritrea	0.9	1.34	1.76	2.2
Estonia	107	123	148	188
Ethiopia	0.55	1.13	1.54	2.42
Fiji	25	34	63	71
Finland	100	108	115	129
France	79	84	89	93
Gabon	54	64	82	90
Gambia, The	16	26	50	70
Georgia	26	39	60	64
Germany	96	104	117	129
Ghana	13	23	33	50
Greece	92	98	110	123
Greenland	82	95	117	99
Grenada	46	45	50	58
Guatemala	35	55	89	109
Guinea	2.05		21	39
Guinea-Bissau	6.71	10	19	32
Guyana	37
Haiti	5.32	13	26	32
Honduras	19	32	58	85
Hong Kong SAR, China	125	138	155	166
Hungary	92	99	110	122
Iceland	95	99	105	108
India	8.24	15	21	30
Indonesia	21	29	42	62
Iran, Islamic Rep. of	12	22	42	60
Iraq	5.38	32	47	57
Ireland	103	110	118	121
Israel	112	119	124	123
Italy	122	136	151	151
Jamaica	75	85	100	101
Japan	76	78	82	86
Jordan	58	78	83	90
Kazakhstan	36	51	80	95
Kenya	13	20	30	42
Kiribati	0.71	0.75	0.79	1.04
Korea, D.P.R. of	0	0	0	0
Korea, Rep. of	80	83	90	94
Kuwait	90	97	104	107
Kyrgyz Republic	11	24	41	64
Lao P.D.R.	11	17	24	33
Latvia	81	95	97	99
Lebanon	24	27	30	34
Lesotho	13	18	22	28
Liberia	4.8	8.07	16	19
Libya	34	65	73	77
Liechtenstein	79	82	91	95
Lithuania	128	139	146	150
Luxembourg	110	151	143	145
Macao SAR, China	109	127	155	177
Macedonia, FYR	62	70	95	123
Madagascar	2.9	5.78	12	25
Malawi	3.08	4.42	7.28	12
Malaysia	76	75	88	103
Maldives	70	91	104	143
Mali	6.44	12	20	27
Malta	80	85	90	94
Marshall Islands	1.18	1.23	1.29	1.68
Mauritania	25	35	45	65
Mauritius	53	62	74	81
Mexico	46	53	63	71
Micronesia, Fed. States of	13	17	25	31
Moldova	29	37	51	67
Mongolia	22	30	46	67
Montenegro	87	104	113	118
Morocco	41	52	64	72
Mozambique	7.22	11	14	20
Myanmar	0.27	0.44	0.5	0.74
Namibia	22	30	38	49
Nepal	0.84	4.17	12	15
Netherlands, The	97	106	118	125
New Caledonia	57	65	73	80
New Zealand	85	91	101	108
Nicaragua	21	33	45	55
Niger	2.47	3.55	6.37	13
Nigeria	13	22	27	42
Norway	103	104	107	110
Oman	51	68	92	116
Pakistan	8.2	22	39	53
Palau	30	42	53	60
Panama	54	66	90	115
Papua New Guinea	1.23	1.59	4.67	9.12
Paraguay	32	54	77	95
Peru	20	31	54	73
Philippines	41	49	65	75
Poland	76	96	109	115
Portugal	109	116	127	140
Puerto Rico	86
Qatar	81	92	111	131
Romania	62	74	95	114
Russian Federation	84	106	120	141
Rwanda	2.48	3.41	6.72	14
Samoa	13	25	48	69
San Marino	57	58	57	77
Sao Tome and Principe	7.83	12	19	31
Saudi Arabia	61	83	118	146
Senegal	15	26	31	44
Serbia	74	90	115	131
Seychelles	71	83	91	107
Sierra Leone			14	18
Singapore	103	109	129	132
Slovak Republic	84	91	112	102
Slovenia	88	91	96	102
Solomon Islands	1.27	1.44	2.19	5.87
Somalia	5.99	6.44	6.87	7.02
South Africa	72	84	88	92
Spain	98	104	108	109
Sri Lanka	17	27	40	55
St. Kitts and Nevis	106	132	152	163
St. Lucia	64	87	92	100
St. Vincent and the Grenadines	65	80	101	119
Sudan	4.72	12	20	29
Suriname	47	63	74	81
Swaziland	18	22	33	46
Sweden	101	106	111	118
Switzerland	92	99	109	116
Syrian Arab Republic	15	24	31	34
Tajikistan	4.05	32	32	54
Tanzania	8.69	14	20	31
Thailand	47	61	79	92
Togo	7.24	12	19	24
Tonga	29	29	45	49
Trinidad and Tobago	70	115	114	113
Tunisia	57	72	77	83
Turkey	61	73	85	89
Turkmenistan	2.17	4.42	7.67	23
Uganda	4.58	6.77	14	27
Ukraine	64	105	119	120
United Arab Emirates	111	130	177	209
United Kingdom	109	116	121	126
United States	72	81	87	89
Uruguay	35	70	90	105
Uzbekistan	2.75	9.55	21	47
Vanuatu	5.86	6.75	11	15
Venezuela, R.B. de	47	70	87	97
Vietnam	12	18	28	81
Virgin Islands (U.S.)	73
West Bank and Gaza	31	22	27	29
Yemen, Rep. of	11	14	15	16
Zambia	8.09	14	21	28
Zimbabwe	5.19	6.82	9.85	13

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

Nice Article: Dark Side Arises for Phone Apps

admin — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 23:40:57 +0000

I have just read a very nice article on the Wall Street Journals web site titled “Dark Side Arises for Phone Apps“.

Here are a couple of paragraphs that really caught my attention,

In one incident, Google pulled dozens of unauthorized mobile-banking apps from its Android Market in December. The apps, priced at $1.50, were made by a developer named “09Droid” and claimed to offer access to accounts at many of the world’s banks. Google said it pulled the apps because they violated its trademark policy.

The apps were more useless than malicious, but could have been updated to capture customers’ banking credentials, said John Hering, chief executive of Lookout, a mobile security provider. “It is becoming easier for the bad guys to use the app stores,” Mr. Hering said.

“Mobile phones are a huge source of vulnerability,” said Gordon Snow, assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cyber Division. “We are definitely seeing an increase in criminal activity.” The FBI’s Cyber Division recently began working on a number of cases based on tips about malicious programs in app stores, Mr. Snow said.

The cases involve apps designed to compromise banking on cellphones, as well as mobile “malware” used for espionage by foreign nations, said a person familiar with the matter. To protect its own operations, the FBI bars its employees from downloading apps on FBI-issued smartphones.

Click here to read the full article (it’s a good one) on the Wall Street Journals web site.

Cops Bust SMS Scam With Arrest of 26

admin — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 01:15:05 +0000

Just read on article on thestar.com.my about a group scamming money via SMS.

In Kuala Lumpur Malaysia a notorious SMS scam syndicate tricking victims into parting with their money by convincing them that they have won cash prizes has been busted with the arrest of 26 people.

This group is actually part of a SMS scam syndicate we busted last year in Tawau. Police also seized four laptops, 73 handphones, 41 account logbooks, ATM and credit cards and RM6,000 during the raid. Each laptop is able to send out up to 1,000 SMSes a day.

Click here to read the full article.

SMS My Customers – New Aussie 2-Way SMS Gateway Launch Soon

admin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 02:09:55 +0000

We’ve been given a sneak preview of a new 2-Way SMS Gateway set to launch very soon in Australia. The application is using the CellTrust 2-Way SMS Gateway as it’s delivery platform and having seen the customer web portals for both SMS My Customers and CellTrust I have to say that the SMS My Customers is a breakthrough in terms of end user functionality and ease of use.

The SMS My Customers 2-Way SMS Gateway will be live and available for customers to log on and use within the next two weeks. If you are currently a subscriber of any other Australian SMS Gateways you owe it to yourself to check this one out when it becomes available.

2010 Mobile Merit Award Goes to CellTrust Corporation for its SecureSMS Messaging Solution

admin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 01:24:18 +0000

The Mobile Merit Awards recognise companies, individuals and technologies that have shaped the way in which the world communicates today and have achieved excellence in the global mobile industry.

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA, USA – June 8, 2010 – CellTrust Corporation, the world’s largest provider of SecureSMS for mobile phones (www.celltrust.com), announced today the company has received the 2010 Mobile Merit Award in the Mobile Services, Enterprise Product or Service category, for its SecureSMS solution.The Mobile Merit Awards recognise companies, individuals and technologies that have shaped the way in which the world communicates today and have achieved excellence in the global mobile industry. The Mobile Merit Awards were founded by a seasoned team of mobile industry veterans, consisting of journalists, bloggers, and corporate CEOs.

“The Mobile Merit Awards showcases thought leadership in the mobile industry by recognising what the judges felt were the most innovative companies in the market place today,” said Mobile Merit Award judge Bob Bilbruck, Managing Director, B2 Group/Mobiletain. “In the Enterprise Product or Service category, CellTrust stood out as the clear leader and we congratulate the company for its win.”

“We are pleased that the Mobile Merit Awards team has recognised our SecureSMS technology and the value it brings to the industry especially in the area of Mobile Peer-to-Peer “P2P” Remittance and Mobile Bill Pay,” 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.”

CellTrust SecureSMS provides end-to-end privacy on the mobile device via a highly encrypted, tamper-proof process while enabling message sizes up to 5,000 characters. CellTrust SecureSMS Appliance is the first global enterprise appliance to offer secure SMS communication for Handset to handset and enterprise applications to handsets with highly encrypted end to end security in compliance with HIPAA, FISMA, and Sarbanes-Oxley, ensuring that information is kept private and only delivered to the intended recipient. CellTrust’s award winning SecureSMS™ Appliance and Gateway reaches 200+ countries and over 800 carriers.

CellTrust SecureSMS™ Appliance was named winner of the 2010 Mobility Award by MobileTrax, as well as the 2009 Best Enterprise Enabler Application for the RCR Ecosystem Awards. In 2008 CellTrust Secure SMS won the Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award and was voted Best Messaging Security Solution by the Info Security Products Guide’s Tomorrow Technology Today Award. SecureSMS was accredited as a finalist for the Third Annual CTIA Emerging Technology Award, and was named the winner of three Mobile Star Awards, and the prestigious Mobile Marketing Association 2008 Global Relationship Building Award.

About CellTrust Corporation

CellTrust Corporation Showcases SecureSMS Messaging and Secure Mobile Wallet Solutions at AITEC Banking & Mobile Money West Africa Conference

admin — Tue, 11 May 2010 18:32:04 +0000

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA, USA – May 12, 2010 – CellTrust Corporation, the world’s largest provider of SecureSMS for mobile phones (www.celltrust.com), announced today the company will showcase its SecureSMS messaging solution in the Mobile Money Hub at the AITEC Banking & Mobile Money West Africa conference, May 11-12, 2010 in Lagos, Nigeria. The company will also highlight the special features of its data-based and menu driven Secure Mobile Wallet.

CellTrust’s SecureSMS platform has gained a strong foothold in Africa. The platform will enable banks and even other payment system providers to meet the stringent, new transmission channel security requirements of the Central Bank of Nigeria. In February of this year CellTrust launched its SecureSMS Mobile Banking and Payment Pilot for the African region through its partnership with Maxim-Pro Ltd. (www.maxim-pro.com), based in Lagos, Nigeria, to provide consumers the ability to make secure mobile cash transfers, payments and securely access other microfinance banking products. “CellTrust’s secure mobile banking platform is gaining significant momentum in Africa, where banks are cracking down on fraud and enforcing new security requirements for mobile financial management,” said Sean Moshir, Chairman and CEO of CellTrust. “CellTrust’s Secure Mobile platform brings significant value to the financial industry, as well as consumers in Africa, providing a secure and simple way to transfer money and make payments.”