CellTrust and NewNet Partner to Deliver Integrated SMSC and Secure SMS Solution to Mobile Operators/Carriers Worldwide

Posted by admin on 2/Dec/2010 in In The News, Press Releases | 0 comments

Partnership Creates First Integrated, Tested and Certified SMSC and Secure SMS Infrastructure Solution on the Market

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA, and SHELTON, CT – USA - December 1, 2010 – CellTrust Corporation, the recognized leader in mobile secure messaging and secure applications for mobile phones (www.celltrust.com), announced today that it is partnering with NewNet, the pioneering leader in telecom infrastructure solutions (www.newnet.com) with deployments in more than 60 countries, in creating the first integrated SMSC and Secure SMS solution for mobile operators worldwide. The partnership will allow any mobile operator to integrate CellTrust’s SecureSMS Appliance with NewNet’s SMSC platform, to deliver a complete SMS solution to wireless subscribers.

The partnership between CellTrust and NewNet creates a seamless, tested and certified integration accelerating deployment of SecureSMS within the operator’s network. Secure SMS delivers a significant benefit to wireless operators. CellTrust developed its SecureSMS platform from the ground-up, with security architecture in mind, to provide a safe and secure environment for the exchange of sensitive information. Standard SMS is not secure and can be spoofed, but CellTrust’s SecureSMS Appliance, engineered to utilize the mobile command channel, addresses spoofing with a fully authenticated, government-grade, highly encrypted, end-to-end tamper-proof process, and also enables message sizes up to 5,000 characters.

(more…)

CellTrust Secure SMS Continues to be Secure, While Many Wireless Banks’ Apps Were Exposed to Security Flaws

Posted by admin on 22/Nov/2010 in Press Releases, Security Alert Log | 0 comments

Company says Secure SMS users’ information is safe and secure because of product architecture

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA, USA – November 22, 2010 – CellTrust Corporation, the recognised leader in mobile secure messaging and secure applications for mobile phones (www.celltrust.com), today announced that CellTrust’s mobile banking product, which is being piloted outside of the U.S., is based on SecureSMS Secure Mobile information management (SMIM) architecture and is not affected by security flaws that were recently published in a Wall Street Journal article. The article stated that a number of top financial companies and banks, such as Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of America Corp. and USAA, are rushing to develop updates to fix security flaws in wireless banking applications that could allow a computer criminal syndicates to obtain sensitive data like usernames, passwords and financial information.

“This is not the first time that mobile banking applications have been vulnerable to security flaws, and we do not believe it will be the last time,” said Sean Moshir, CEO and Chairman of CellTrust. “The issue with the banking apps mentioned in The Wall Street Journal article is that personal information about the wireless subscriber, such as the user name and password to a bank account, is being stored in the mobile device, which could give a cybercriminal full access to a person’s financial accounts. Storing the password in the memory of the handset is a fundamental mistake in the design of the apps and the security architecture. Furthermore, apps that store passwords in the memory of the handset or send it across the network are not compliant with financial industry regulations or best practices.”

Moshir continued, “CellTrust developed its SecureSMS platform from the ground-up, with security architecture in mind, and continues to provide a safe and secure environment for the exchange of sensitive information. A key difference with SecureSMS is that CellTrust uses the mobile command channel for communication, rather than the data channel which was used for these particular mobile banking apps. It is critical and added security for mobile banks apps to perform the actual transaction or user authentication out of band.” (more…)

CellTrust’s Sean Moshir Responds to Indian Government’s Plans for Proxy SIM Cards for Secure Communication

Posted by admin on 5/Nov/2010 in Press Releases | 0 comments

CEO wants to protect U.S. jobs, asking U.S. government to protect U.S. intellectual property

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA, USA – November 5, 2010 – CellTrust Corporation, the recognized leader in mobile secure messaging and secure applications for mobile phones (www.celltrust.com), responded today to the recent announcement by the Indian government that it plans to create guidelines and regulations for using proxy SIM cards for secure communication in the country. The response comes before President Obama’s weekend visit to India to discuss the economic partnership between India and the United States.

“In tough economic times like we are currently facing in the United States, we believe that certain actions, such as the ones by the government of India, could potentially be considered unfair practice against certain U.S. companies,” said Sean Moshir, CEO and Chairman of CellTrust. “While we applaud the government of India for recognizing the need for secure SMS, we believe that the resulting technology may end up infringing on the patent CellTrust has filed in India regarding Secure SMS and also could potentially violate the practices of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a United Nations agency dedicated to developing a balanced and accessible international intellectual property system. We hope that the U.S. and other countries can come together to find ways to protect jobs, while growing small businesses internationally, and adhering to international intellectual property principles.”

CellTrust is the largest provider of Secure SMS in the world, with many government organizations as customers, including the U.S. government. While the U.S. government protects its citizens, their properties and interests, Moshir believes it should also protect their intellectual property, to ensure that jobs that need to stay in the U.S. would stay here. (more…)

Vulnerabilities Found In Banking Apps

Posted by admin on 5/Nov/2010 in Application Watch, In The News, Security Alert Log | 0 comments

Security holes in Android and iPhone apps from PayPal, Bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo, and more could give attackers access to financial data.

Smartphone banking applications from Bank of America, Chase, PayPal, TD Ameritrade, USAA and Wells Fargo have bugs that an attacker could exploit to steal people’s personal financial information. So said digital forensics firm viaForensics in a security warning released Thursday. The security flaw was not found in the firm’s testing of a Vanguard Group smartphone banking app.

Read Full article on Informationweek web site

Queensland University of Technology selects CellTrust Global SMS Gateway Platform for First of Kind Pilot for New Mothers

Posted by admin on 12/Oct/2010 in Application Watch, In The News, Press Releases | 0 comments

Queensland University of Technology’s “Mumbubconnect” Selects CellTrust’s Global SMS Platform Delivering Two-Way Text Messages to Breastfeeding Mothers across Australia.

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA, USA and SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – October 12, 2010 – CellTrust Corporation, the world’s largest provider of SecureSMS™ (Secure SMS) for mobile phones (www.celltrust.com), announced today that its GlobalSMS platform solution has been selected by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), for the world’s first text message pilot program to offer breastfeeding support for new mothers in Australia.

The “Mumbubconnect” trial, concepted and engineered by Andre La Porte, a Digital Media and Social Marketing Specialist in Brisbane, Australia, for a team from QUT’s School of Public Health and the School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations, is the first of its kind to use two-way SMS to provide support for breastfeeding mothers. The text messages provide a direct link with breastfeeding women and offer support, encouragement and advice when needed. For example if a mother responds to a text message indicating she is struggling with breastfeeding, she will be sent an encouraging response, along with hints on how to get through the difficult times. This pilot program aims to facilitate QUT’s research and ultimately to increase breastfeeding rates among new mothers.

“Our research found that text messages are an ideal way to communicate with new mothers, because they send and receive messages on their mobile devices throughout the day,” said Mr. La Porte. “CellTrust Australia had our system up and running in less than two hours and it’s easy to use. I was astonished to find that a particular vendor would have to build a specific SMS platform application from scratch, and that other vendors with existing technology had platforms that were complicated to program and manage.”

(more…)

SMS Harvesting Mobile Virus Targeting Banks

Posted by admin on 5/Oct/2010 in Security Alert Log, Trojans | 0 comments

I came across an interesting article this morning on the SC Magazine web site this morning so I thought I’d share a brief excerpt and a link to the full article.

Bank log-in details could be targeted, say security experts.

Security experts are warning of a variant of the Zeus banking trojan that attacks mobile phones and can bypass the two-stage verification system used by some banks.

Zeus Mitmo is previously unknown malware that is designed to intercept the confirmation SMS sent out by some banks as part of the online log-in process, according to Spanish security company S21sec.

Read the full article on the SC Magazine web site.

Trojan SMS Virus Found on Android Handsets

Posted by admin on 25/Sep/2010 in Security Alert Log, Trojans | 0 comments

Kaspersky Labs has found one of the first Trojan SMS viruses attacking Android handsets. Kaspersky Labs is a provider of leading antivirus products. Kaspersky has previously found viruses in Google adsense and many other places.

The trojan SMS virus prompts Android users to install a fake media player application with the standard Android extension *.apk – a fake player disguised as a media player is in fact a Trojan virus built for Android handsets.

Once you install this small Android app which is only about 13kb it immediately starts sending SMS text messages to premium numbers without the knowledge of the user. Unfortunately the users will not know about the existence of the virus until they check their mobile bill.

Android OS is one of the highest growing mobile operating system by Google. There were previous cases of spyware installed in Android OS based handsets.

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

Posted by admin on 25/Aug/2010 in Press Releases | 1 comment

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.

(more…)

50 Arrested Over Smartphone Spyware

Posted by admin on 3/Aug/2010 in In The News, Security Alert Log | 0 comments

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

Posted by admin on 30/Jul/2010 in Security Alert Log | 0 comments

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

Posted by admin on 13/Jul/2010 in In The News | 0 comments

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.

(more…)

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

Posted by admin on 9/Jul/2010 in Advertising & Marketing, In The News | 2 comments

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.

(more…)

Nice Article: Dark Side Arises for Phone Apps

Posted by admin on 9/Jul/2010 in Security Alert Log | 0 comments

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

Posted by admin on 2/Jul/2010 in Scams, Security Alert Log | 0 comments

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

Posted by admin on 8/Jun/2010 in Application Watch | 1 comment

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.