Sim card hack could put 750 million devices at risk

Alan O'Doherty

July 22, 2013

German security researcher Karsten Nohl has uncovered a security flaw that could allow cybercriminals to remotely access a mobile device, Forbes reported today.

The sim card hack could grant criminals control over the victim’s phone to send premium rate messages, collect information on their location, re-direct or record their calls and potentially make fraudulent payments.

Nohl claims to have spent three years and used over 1000 sim cards in his research to uncover the flaw, which is said to be present in just under a quarter of sim cards. The hack can be exploited by sending a hidden sms message to the device and potentially affects hundreds of millions of phones.

Nohl is due to present his findings at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas later this month. However, he has also stated that two large mobile operators are currently collaborating on a solution to the weakness.

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Alan O'Doherty

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