Blackberry Ist Verboten: Germany Advises Ministers Against Smartphone Use

The German government has advised its ministers to avoid using smartphones like Blackberry and iPhones because of “a dramatic increase of attacks against” the government’s networks.

Additionally, a ban on the use of smartphones in several government ministries is also under consideration, Federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière…

Saudi Arabia to Shut Down Blackberry Messenger Function Friday

Saudi Arabia’s telecommunications watchdog, the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), has asked telecom firms to block to messenger function on Blackberry devices by Friday. The ban would remain until all three mobile phone operators in Saudi Arabia complied with “the regulatory requirements it has requested.”

CITC did not specify what the regulatory requirements are,…

UAE and Saudi Arabia to Ban Some Blackberry Functions

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates plan to ban some functions on the Blackberry, citing security concerns.

The UAE plans to block Internet access, sending emails and delivering instant messages to other Blackberry devices. Saudi Arabia plans to block instant messages between Blackberry devices.

Both nations are unhappy with their inability to monitor the…

Hacking Contest Offers $100,000 for Smartphone Hacks

An annual hacking contest that has broken security on both pcs and macs is now offering a $100,000 prize for smartphone and browser hacks. The Pwn2Own competition will offer various cash prizes for carrying out various exploits on different mobile phone systems including the iPhone, Blackberry and Android.

In an announcement of the rules this year, ZDI’s Aaron Portnoy wrote “The increased presence and capabilities of smart phones…

Spying on Your Smartphone

Last week, The New New Internet reported about the vulnerabilities in the iPhone to exploitation. The iPhone is not the only smartphone with vulnerabilities, as Tyler Shields, a senior security researcher at Veracode, demonstrated over the weekend.

According to an article on Kaspersky Labs Threat Post, Shields demonstrated a spyware program called txsBBSPY at the ShmooCon conference that can intercept email, text messages and determine a BlackBerry…