Verizon's Take On Broadband Caps: A Sign Of Competitive Market?
The 8,000 Year Copyright?

If Criminals Are Smart Enough To Hack Old Nokia's, Can't They Keep A Secret?

Wireless

from the thankfully-criminals-are-dumb dept

Thu, Apr 23rd 2009 03:49pm -

If you have an old Nokia 1100 phone, maybe it’s time to dust it off and try selling it in Germany where hackers claim to have figured out a way to use certain Nokia phones to steal authentication codes for bank transactions. There are a few reports that these old phones (if they were made in a very specific factory, not just any old model…) are selling for ridiculous amounts — ranging from $700 to $30,000 — presumably because the handsets are so hard to find and are valuable to hackers prone to crime. So far, Nokia says it can’t imagine any way for these old phones to be hacked for banking fraud. But not surprisingly, security vendors are quick to point out the plausibility of this type of phone hacking — since security firms can obviously benefit from unfounded fears that encourage consumers to buy security software regardless of the actual need for it. Is it really that hard to ask a security vendor what the likelihood would be for a criminal to actually succeed in such a scam? Hopefully, the odds of actually stealing any money with these ancient phones are approaching zero — especially now that the tools to implement the fraud are known and apparently getting quite expensive. Perhaps the real suckers in this story are the gullible hackers who are buying old phones in shady forums for prices that are well more than the phones are worth?

Filed Under: , ,
Companies: nokia

177 CommentsLeave a Comment
If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...
Rate this comment as insightful
Rate this comment as funny
You have rated this comment as insightful
You have rated this comment as funny
Flag this comment as abusive/trolling/spam
You have flagged this comment
The first word has already been claimed
The last word has already been claimed
Insightful Lightbulb icon Funny Laughing icon Abusive/trolling/spam Flag icon Insightful badge Lightbulb icon Funny badge Laughing icon Comments icon

Comments on “If Criminals Are Smart Enough To Hack Old Nokia's, Can't They Keep A Secret?”

Subscribe: RSS Leave a comment
177 Comments
mikeho (user link) says:

Re: Please ...

I didn’t mean to suggest that this whole story boils down to a few “gullible hackers” — but if this security threat were actually as serious as some make it sound, shouldn’t there be an estimate of how big of a problem this is? Something along the lines of $XXX,000 per year may be stolen using spoofed bank authentication codes…? If a security vendor actually stated something like that — then the banking industry would have to respond seriously. Just saying the threat is “plausible” — but offering no context about “how plausible” — is either fear-mongering or merely idle speculation.

So as other comments above have pointed out, this story sounds like an urban legend due to the lack of supporting facts or any kind of critical analysis….

Perhaps Wired can help us out and investigate further? I’m sure it would be much appreciated!

fati (user link) says:

Have nokia Rh 18 Made in Germany

===============================================
I have nokia 1100 rh18 made in germany for sell
who is interested can contact me at my e-mail fat.brazhda@yahoo.com
or mobile ++ 355 68 56 07 507
= 3.000 euro

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
telefon nokia 1100 rh 18 prodhim Gjerman e shes me cmimin e padiskutushem 3.000 euro , kush eshte i interesuar mund te kontaktoje me adresat e mesiperme.
============================================

nokia_sell says:

I have 2 pcs Nokia 1100 RH-17 2002 and 2003 year
and one RH-16 2003 year germany .
The phone’s was allready checked and working .
I can give you all information you like about the phones …
contact me via e-mail : 1100modd@gmail.com or skype : nokia_sell

Price is 1200 euro for each phone or 3k euro for all phones

If there are serious buyers .. we can make a clear and good deal …not just sayng words and showing pictures of the phones …like 98% of people here …

Add Your Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here

Comment Options:

Make this the or (get credits or sign in to see balance) what's this?

What's this?

Techdirt community members with Techdirt Credits can spotlight a comment as either the "First Word" or "Last Word" on a particular comment thread. Credits can be purchased at the Techdirt Insider Shop »

Verizon's Take On Broadband Caps: A Sign Of Competitive Market?
The 8,000 Year Copyright?
Follow Techdirt

Techdirt Daily Newsletter

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

A weekly news podcast from
Mike Masnick & Ben Whitelaw

Subscribe now to Ctrl-Alt-Speech »
Techdirt Deals
Techdirt Insider Discord
The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...
Loading...