Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Glitch opens T-Mobile user to hacker probes

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 13:24:03 -0500

Glitch opens T-Mobile user to hacker probes

By BOB BREWIN
NOVEMBER 18, 2002

Mike Palmer, technology director at The Associated Press news agency's broadcast division,
learned
a lesson this month: Mobile wireless data services need to be carefully monitored for
hacker probes
that could create security risks as well as cost issues.

Palmer works in Washington for New York-based AP. He said he discovered 25 probes from
hackers
when he checked inbound traffic to a laptop PC that's used to send video and text files
over T-Mobile
USA Inc.'s General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) mobile data network.

Palmer said he wasn't worried about security problems because he uses Atlanta-based
Internet
Security Systems Inc.'s BlackICE personal firewall technology. But what did bother him was
the
possibility that AP could end up paying for the probes if they pushed him over the 10MB
monthly data
transmission limit he has with T-Mobile.

Like other major cellular network operators, T-Mobile, a subsidiary of Bonn-based Deutsche
Telekom
AG, charges for its data service on a per-megabyte basis that includes both incoming and
outgoing
transmissions.

Kim Thompson, a spokeswoman for Bellevue, Wash.-based T-Mobile, acknowledged the problem
that
Palmer experienced. But she described it as an isolated incident and promised a fix by
week's end.
Thompson said T-Mobile has firewalled its network to prevent such probes and put
mechanisms in
place to ensure that customers don't have to pay for unsolicited inbound traffic. The
probes of AP's
systems stemmed from a recent upgrade of T-Mobile's network that resulted in a "glitch,"
she added.
The problem affected fewer than 100 users, Thompson said.

John Pescatore, a security analyst at Gartner Inc. in Stamford, Conn., said this is the
first incident
he's aware of in which a user of an IP-based mobile data network was subjected to probes
that weren't
blocked. But once a user opens up an IP connection, hackers can usually discover it "in
about 10
minutes," he said.

In such an environment, IT security tools and firewalls are essential, Pescatore said.
Both GPRS data
circuits and rival Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 1x services from carriers such as
Sprint PCS
Group utilize IP connections, he noted.

Jim Grams, a senior vice president at AT&T Wireless Services Inc., said the Redmond,
Wash.-based
company helps its wireless data users avoid probes by not assigning static and exposed IP
addresses to users. AT&T Wireless has also installed firewalls that stop such traffic
before it reaches
users, he said.

Cellular Tips
Per-megabyte pricing means you pay for
inbound traffic.

Check GPRS or CDMA 1x clients regularly to ensure they haven’t been probed by hackers.
Demand rebates if you get billed for unsolicited inbound traffic.

http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2002/0,4814,75957,00.html

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