Common mobile viruses:Mobile Security Threat

How they spread and what are the effects:

Cabir: When this virus infects  your mobile then  message 'Caribe' will be displayed  at each  time you switch off and  on the mobile. These worms are generally  spread through blue tooth signals from surroundings  mobiles. 

Duts: A parasitic  file infector virus .its alos  known as Pocket PC. It try to infect all EXE files which are more than 4kb present in the directory where it saved. 

Skulls:  it is a Trojan horse. Means a piece of code will be  downloaded  on your mobile nad then the virus called Skull replaces your phone desktop into  image of skull as icon.it is very dangerous as  It is usually  transferred with all phone applications and also with SMS and MMS. 

Comm warrior: It's also spread through MMS  and  unsecured blue tooth  to other devices. It has more impact on devices running under OS Symbian Series 60. This virus launches The executable worm file and the worm  hunt for gaining access to your blue tooth devices and sends the infected files under various different  name to various random device.

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Mobile security:Tips for using Bluetooth Securely

All  deficiencies(described in previuos post )  leave a Bluetooth device vulnerable to security threats. Even though security gaps are being filled every day by the manufacturer and technologist, Following are some of the tips that a normal user can keep in mind and protect himself from an amateur BlueTooth  security breacher.[sintuhack]

• Keep BlueTooth   in the disabled state, enable it only when needed and disable immediately after the intended task is completed.[sintuhack]
• Keep the device in non-discoverable (hidden) mode,[sintuhack]
• DO NOT accept any unknown and unexpected request for pairing your device.[sintuhack]
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• Use non regular patterns as PIN keys while pairing a device. Use those key combinations which are non sequential, non obvious on the keypad.[sintuhack]
• Keep a check of all paired devices in the past from time to time and delete any paired device which you are not sure about.[sintuhack]
• Register your device at the Manufacturer site and insure that security updates are installed regularly to protect from previously know threat which had been rectified in new models.[sintuhack]
• Always enable encryption when establishing Bluetooth connection to your PC.[sintuhack]

Above Bluetooth Security Tips should make your Bluetooth experience trouble free. Good Luck…!!! And that’s the end of chapter on bluetooth.[sintuhack].

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Bluetooth Security Risks:MOBILE SECURITY

Bluetooth Security Risks
1. The first step in using any Bluetooth device is to turn on the Bluetooth feature in it. The default state of Bluetooth in any device is “Off” mode. 
2. Once Bluetooth is turned on, it is in active but dormant state. In order to use it, it needs to be put in to “Discoverable” state. In theory when a device is in “non discoverable” state it should not be visible to other devices but in reality the device is still discoverable to those devices it has made a connection before using MAC address. A hacker seeing the Blue LED can use Brute Force address discovery process to record the MAC address and hack the device using software such as RedFang.


3. During communication process also Bluetooth technology exposes itself to security breach as the address itself is not encrypted although the message may be encrypted. Technique such as frequency hogging provides some protection but is not completely secure.
4. There are devices available in the market which can capture a Bluetooth signal from the air and analyze. At present cost is prohibitive for casual hackers to acquire some of these devices but still a professional hacker can use those devices and hack vital information.
5. Many owners leave the Bluetooth device in the discoverable mode after actual use due to ignorance or simply forget to turn off “discoverable” mode which gives hackers easy opportunity to pair with their device and hack.
6. Pairing two Bluetooth devices usually does not require any authentication, however using a service like file transfer or data/video/voice exchange require some authentication by entering PIN. Once PINs are entered a link key is generated and stored in the device’s memory. This process is not required for next time onwards.
7. Many vendors do not implement authentication and authorization process correctly allowing hackers to steal information or use one’s phone or use it for making calls or SMS.

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BLuebugging:Can Breach YOUR Mobile Security

BLuebugging was somewhat like bluesnarfing but the difference is that it is more harmful to your mobile from the prospective of security of your mobile. It was first invented in 2004 by German scientist. In the initial phase, it was necessary to pair devices via Bluetooth before the security breacher  try to breach your mobile with the bugger, but now a days its not needed to pair up the devices.[sintuhack]. It can also possible to break you mobile security via the Bluetooth enabled headset which is used to take call as per to free your hands.[sintuhack]

At early stage it was done with laptop but now a days such powerful PDA and mobile phones are available  in the market that it can be done without laptops .[sintuhack]. you may be happy that your mobile Bluetooth has only a small range so its not easy to pair up your device hence you mobile is secured. But did you know that in market antenna’s are available which can send and receive weak signal s and hence data can be transferred from range of even 200 meters.[sintuhack]

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