BlackBerry Devices are Vulnerable, Virus Researcher Proves

7:10 am on August 11, 2006 | Category: Email, Mobile Devices, PDAs, Software

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BlackBerry handhelds are vulnerable to Trojan horse viruses, proved researcher, Jesse D’Aguanno, at the Defcon hackers conference last week.

D’Aguanno developed and demonstrated a malicious application that used the BlackBerry wireless email device to gain access to corporate servers.

“The BlackBerry hack was written to show that while these devices are often not treated with the same concern as PCs, they can be equally as dangerous,” commented D’Aguanno, who is a research director with Praetorian Global.

“When users think of the BlackBerry’s security, they are too focused on protecting the device’s data, and tend to ignore its networking capabilities.” he went on to say. “It’s a computer that has constant access to your internal network.”

BlackBerry manufacturer, Research In Motion, says that these kinds of viruses cannot be transmitted by email, meaning that a user would have to be tricked into downloading malicious software for there to be any risk of damage.

As more and more customers use their BlackBerry devices for web surfing, however, the risk of handheld malware is steadily increasing. Users need to remember that the wireless email devices of today are in just as much danger as other computers, and should be treated accordingly.

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    1. Is it possible to receive a virusmessage signed with name sender? From Blackberry to my email.

      Comment by lydia immink — November 5, 2007 #

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