Text Messaging Featured Article

Where would we be today without text messaging? These brief, electronic messages sent mostly through mobile phones have revolutionized the way we interact with each other. Over time, SMS technology has become a global phenomenon and a standard way to exchange messages amongst cell phone users.

According to a Pew (News - Alert) Internet research covering the period 2009-2011, texting was teens' most common form of communication, beating out phone conversations (as it offers a lower cost than making a phone call), social networks and old-fashioned face-to-face conversations.

Love it or hate it, text-based communication, which is now over 20 years old, has become a preferred means of mobile conversation. Its increase in popularity over the years (amongst the young, and not only) is due on being immediate, convenient, and compatible with every mobile device. It is also simple and concise with the use of abbreviations, symbols and emoji.

Text messaging, in the past, has driven a spike in mobile use. Today, however, there are signs of its losing popularity. With services like chat and instant messaging on smartphones, some say texting will likely end.

Time will tell what comes of mobile texting. As of today, the big concern lies with the lack of preparedness for mobile malware and data leakage incidents. IT security experts note the importance of mobile security and incident readiness—i.e., to take proactive mobile prevention, detection and response to gain greater visibility and control of mobile data and devices before damage is done.

Malware has now gone mobile to disrupt operations, gather sensitive information, or gain access to devices; such malicious acts are increasing happening, nowadays, on smartphones and other mobile devices (affecting both iOS and Android platforms). According to studies conducted by McAfee and Juniper Networks (News - Alert), malware aimed specifically at Android devices has increased by 614 percent in a year.

A post on June 29 from Morning News USA website told of a new and rare malware that has been recently discovered and affecting Android (News - Alert) devices: a self-propagating SMS worm Selfmite used to further a pay-per-install scheme. As explained in a Computerworld post, the “Selfmite Android malware spreads by sending text messages with a malicious link to the device owner's contacts.” Security vendor AdaptiveMobile (News - Alert) confirms that the SMS worm uses self-propagation mechanisms to target other Android users through contacts from the devices’ address books where it can instantly install itself.

The SMS worm functions as follows after sending malicious SMS messages to the new potential victims: The text message sent by Selfmite contains the contact's name and reads, "Dear [NAME], Look the Self-time," followed by a goo.gl shortened URL.

The rogue link points to an APK (Android application package) file called TheSelfTimerV1.apk that is hosted on a remote server, researchers from security firm AdaptiveMobile said in a blog post.

The security vendor affirms it has detected dozens of devices infected with Selfmite in the U.S. Those that fell victim to the SMS worm had downloaded an infected Mobogenie Market app, not the legitimate one from Google (News - Alert) Play, but the one that is “promoted through various paid referral schemes, creating an incentive for attackers to distribute it fraudulently. In addition to spreading itself to other users, the Selfmite worm tries to convince them to download and install a file called mobogenie_122141003.apk through the local browser,” Computerworld’s post says. The short goo.gl URL had been used to distribute the malicious APK, which was visited 2,140 times until Google disabled it.

The lesson learned from the Selfmite malware experience is for Android users to download the Mobogenie application from reliable sources only, such as Google Play; otherwise, they risk being fooled into installing a worm and other software they may not want, the AdaptiveMobile researchers said.