Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Text Message Disables Two Siemens Model Cell Phones

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 13:55:56 -0500

Text Message Disables Two Siemens Model Cell Phones
A malicious text message being sent to cell phones in Europe can cause two
Siemens 35 series cell phones to freeze or be completely disabled. The
message affects Siemens 45 series phones to a lesser degree. The 45 series
phones can be restored in about two minutes. The phones are sold only in
Europe. A spokesman for Siemens said that the problem could not be
characterized as a denial of service attack.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Malignant text ambushes Europe cell phones

By Ben Charny
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
March 18, 2003, 9:40 PM PT

NEW ORLEANS--A short text message is spelling death for cell phones in Europe.

The wireless e-mail, among the 1 billion sent each day on the continent, can freeze or
completely disable two cell phones made by German handset maker Siemens, spokesman
Jacob Rice said here on Tuesday.

The e-mails contain a single word, taken from the phone's language menu, surrounded by
quote marks and preceded by an asterisk, such as "*English" or "*Deutsch," Siemens said.

Opening the short-text message on
a Siemens 35 series cell completely
disables it, Rice said. Siemens 45
series phones are less affected and
can be resuscitated after about two
minutes of work, Rice said. Both
phones are sold only in Europe.

The phones are not the victim of a
denial of service attack, as
suggested by some participating in
an e-mail string on Bugtraq, a
popular security e-mail list, Rice
said.

"It's just not possible," Rice said.

Denial of service attacks are very
rare on cell phones. There has been
only one known case in the past two years, when an e-mail virus sent to Japanese carrier
NTT
DoCoMo subscribers forced the phones to call that country’s emergency services agencies.

Software problems, however, are much more common on cell phones. DoCoMo has had the
most publicized of problems, having to recall thousands of cell phones in the past few
years
because of software snafus.

Regardless of the reason for the Siemens phone breakdowns, it's unwelcome news at a cell
phone industry gathering here this week for the CTIA Wireless 2003 show as major U.S.
carriers push harder than ever to sell wireless data services and more sophisticated cell
phones.

"Security is something we take very seriously," said Microsoft spokesman Ed Suwanjindar.
He
said Microsoft provides application developers with the necessary tools to write antivirus

software from the phones.

Carriers also have the option to "lock" the phones down, so only applications such as
games
or ring tones that pass a carrier's certification process can be downloaded onto phones,
Suwanjindar said.

"We haven't seen a lot of these problems," but have also taken precautions against it,
said a
representative for Palm, whose software-rich Tungsten W is being sold by AT&T Wireless.

http://news.com.com/2100-1039-993197.html

--
    "NEXTEL-1 IT'S NOT JUST NEXTEL"
  Note The New address
Subscribe to Nextel-1: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL-1

  "NEXTEL2 FOR iDEN SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS"
Subscribe to Nextel2: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL2

  "WIRELESS FORUM HOMELAND SECURITY GROUP"
     The Complete Resource for Wireless Homeland Security.
Subscribe to WFHSG:  http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/WFHSG

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Your own Online Store Selling our Overstock.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/rZll0B/4ftFAA/46VHAA/61FxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/