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Hackers turn Palm Pre into secret bugging device
From: InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2010 02:52:40 -0500 (CDT)
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/technology-gadgets/hackers-turn-palm-pre-into-secret-bugging-device-14909790.html By Stephen Foley belfasttelegraph.co.uk 13 August 2010 A British internet security company has demonstrated how to turn the Palm Pre into a secret bugging device, ideal for corporate espionage, and issued a warning that many other popular smartphones are also vulnerable to hackers. In-house hackers at Basingstoke-based MWR InfoSecurity have created a bug hidden in an electronic business card, or vcard, which enabled them to use the Pre to record conversations and send the audio file back to them, whenever it is connected to a WiFi or 3G network – all without the user being aware anything at all is happening. The company's 26-year-old principal security researcher – who gives his name only as Nils, and who was hired by MWR last year after having been a freelance hacker since his teens – demonstrated the security flaw in the Pre to journalists and IT specialists this week, saying the phone was "easy" to break into. Hewlett-Packard acquired Palm two months ago, in part so it could use the Pre operating system on future smartphones. [...]
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