Postby Jeremy Gault » April 19th, 2009, 10:50 am
Makes complete sense as to how this could work. If you allow someone to install a program on your phone (by letting them use it, leaving it laying around, or opening some random unknown attachment), then obviously they can do pretty much whatever they want.
Having a password on your phone, and not letting others use it, is probably a big step toward preventing this type of thing. My BlackBerry has a password. It locks itself upon being inserted into the holster, or after it has been idle for several minutes. I also reprogrammed the left-side "voice memo" key (which I never used) to lock the phone, so if I set it down I always hit that button out of habit. (My phone does have some sensitive information on it, and it has special access to some servers, so I don't want random people using it.)
On an even scarier note: The passwords on some phones are fairly simple to bypass. On my last few phones (Verizon, not smartphones) I found an interesting feature: You can set a 4-digit security code to lock the phone. This defaults to the last 4 digits of your cell number, but you can change it. This is set (or re-set) upon activating the phone (if you give it to someone else, or change the number, the code gets reset.) Anyway, some of these phones will lock you from the information IN the phone, but still allow outbound calls while the phone is locked. If you know the last 4 digits of the locked phone, just dial *228 (the Verizon OTA activation number) and hit SEND. Pick option #1 (program your phone) -- NOT option #2. Option #1 will re-send the activation instructions to the phone. Once the phone reboots, the lock code is now the last 4 digits of the cell number. Unlock and enjoy.
Scary isn't it?