Have a Windows Phone? Be Careful of the Texts You Receive
December 15, 2011
By David Vaughan,
Director of Projects, TSG Global
It seems Microsoft (News - Alert) OS exploitations are no longer limited to the desktop version. Earlier this week, Microsoft Windows phones contain a flaw an attacker can exploit to prevent users from accessing their text messages.
The "flaw", activated when an attacker sends a rigged text message to a Windows Phone (News - Alert), causes the device to reboot; when it starts up again, the phone buzzes to indicate it has received the message, but it cannot display it. The proof-of-concept hack, shown in a video on WinRumors, affects Windows Phone 7.5 and is not device-specific.
The messaging malfunction can be triggered by a direct text message sent to a targeted phone, or by messages sent through Facebook chat or Windows Live Messenger.
Funny enough, this snafu comes just as Microsoft unveiled a new social marketing campaign using Twitter (News - Alert) "#DroidRage," in which the company promises a free Windows phone to the five contestants with the "best" Android malware horror stories.
WinRumors has disclosed the bug to Microsoft, but as of now, there is no acknowledgement from Micorosft or a fix for the messaging flaw "apart from hard resetting and wiping the device."
David Vaughan is an industry veteran of telecom, now Director of Projects at TSG Global, Inc. To read more of David's articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Stefanie Mosca