Phone Apps Sending Data Without Notification

[Tank]

Researchers Find Phone Apps Sending Data Without Notification; TaintDroid Tool IDs Untrustworthy Apps

ScienceDaily (Oct. 1, 2010) â€" Flicking through a wallpaper app with backgrounds of Mickey Mouse and a tropical waterfall, Peter Gilbert gets a plain, black and white text notification on his smartphone.

A third of the way down the screen it says, "Taint: Phone Number, IMEI, ICCID (sim card identifier)." The message alerts Gilbert that the wallpaper app has sent his phone's number and other identifying information to imnet.us. Checking online, it appears the address is a website in Shenzhen, China...

One unfortunate side effect of the increasing sophistication of mobile devices is their increased vulnerability to exploitation by dishonest individuals and organisations. As technology advances older simpler solutions are discarded. Marketing people continually crave the next novelty to sell, thus the camera in a phone. In due course I would think there will hardly be a simple mobile phone available on the market. How long before the first app one installs on a phone will be a virus checker? Symantech must be rubbing their hands with glee at the thought of every phone enabled product become a target for hackers!

[Velma]

A couple of months ago, I read an article about the possibility of smart phones being the next big targets for hackers and viruses.  I can see where they'd be an attractive target since there is a lot of data on a smart phone that those with less than good intentions can use, such as passwords, email addresses, phone numbers, and credit card numbers.  Certainly something to think about.