Hackers Can Launch iPhone Attack Via SMS

Security experts at the Black Hat conference said Thursday that hackers can break into an iPhone to intercept text messages, deliver spam and deliver malware.

Charlie Miller, Independent Security Evaluators researcher, and Collin Mulliner, a Ph.D. student at the University of Berlin, demonstrated during a Black Hat presentation that hackers can break into an iPhone via the SMS protocol to launch a denial-of-service (DOS) attack or take control of a victim's phone.

"Its lots of fun to kick friends off the network, but it's even more fun to own their phone," Miller said, who demonstrated the exploits on both the iPhone and Android.

The hack is enabled by memory issues in the way the iPhone handles the SMS protocol, Miller said. Miller demonstrated Thursday that the attack can be used to launch a DOS attack, which could be used to shut off an iPhone, deface text or otherwise reconfigure the keys.

The DOS hack is launched by flooding the iPhone with hundreds of SMS control messages, which allows hackers to keep their victims off the network indefinitely.

A similar SMS hack can be conducted on the Google Android and the Windows Mobile platforms.

"Basically what happens, you send a bad SMS, you can't use your phone," Miller said. "Literally the phone is working, you just can't press any of the buttons."

And unlike previous types of mobile attacks, which required a hacker to entice users to open a malicious Web site, iPhone users could become infected with no intervention.

These kinds of attacks will likely be used to send spam, researchers said. "It could be used in a spam game," said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer for Finland-based F-Secure. "SMS is cheap but it's not free."

Unless you hack into someone's phone, that is. One of the biggest impediments to launching spam campaigns via SMS is that it costs money to send a text. However, hackers who can break into a victim's phone can launch an attack that could send out millions of spam text messages free of charge.

Miller, however, found a way to test the SMS exploit while incurring minimal costs. "We paid for 100, and we got the effects of half a million," he said.

Perhaps even more menacing, researchers said, is the possibility of launching a malware attack via SMS. An attack could be used to distribute malware once the hacker is able to penetrate the victim's phone, which would spread to everyone on the victim's contact list. Mobile Trojans could be used to steal information or make the mobile phone into a remote spying device, Hypponen said.

Ice Age game on your mobile phone

Glu Mobile, a leading global publisher of mobile games, announced the launch of Ice Age game: Dawn of the Dinosaurs for mobile phones worldwide. This mobile game marks Glu's third mobile title based on Fox Mobile Entertainment's hit Ice Age franchise and launches in time for the international theatrical release of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, an animated film from Twentieth Century Fox. Premiered July 1, 2009, the movie is directed by Carlos Saldanha (Ice Age, Robots) and introduced exciting new Ice Age characters and a new Lost World environment.

Ice Age mobile game

"We are pleased to once again work with Fox Mobile Entertainment to create a great mobile game for mobile phones based on their newest Ice Age film," said Jill Braff, senior vice president of global publishing, Glu. "The Ice Age franchise, with its global mass market appeal, is a hit perfectly suited for the mobile platform." "We continue to enjoy a strong working relationship with Glu," said Andrew Stalbow, senior vice president, Fox Mobile Entertainment, "and we have every confidence that the Ice age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs mobile game will be a huge hit on mobile platforms around the world."

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs mobile game provides an entirely new mobile experience to complement Glu's previous Ice Age games. Our beloved heroes return for an action-packed rescue mission full of prehistoric fun. Having disappeared into a strange world beneath the ice, Sid needs to escape from nasty dinosaurs to recover his missing eggs. Mobile players avoid dangers like carnivorous plants, deadly tar pits and molten lava by sliding down hills, riding on dinosaurs and swinging from tall cliffs - all the while protecting Sid's precious cargo.

Ice Age mobile game features

* Multiple Characters : play as either Sid the sloth or all-new character Buck the weasel
* Cameo Appearances : Manny, Diego and other characters from the film appear throughout the game
* Extended Gameplay : 10 playable action-oriented levels
* Simple Controls : player abilities include swinging, rolling and jumping, all controllable with one button
* Familiar Locations : the unique storyline, environments and game challenges stay faithful to the movie

Ice Age mobile game availability

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, the mobile game for your mobile phone, is available on all major carriers worldwide.