Dec. 9, 2010 A researcher at the University of Luxembourg has
demonstrated a new class of attacks against mobile phones at the
security conference DeepSec in Vienna. Using a base transceiver
station (available for 1000 euro) he has shown how common
programming errors in the communication stack of mobile phones
can be exploited to gain control of the devices. Ralf-Philipp
Weinmann found devastating flaws in a large percentage of
cellular communication stacks. According to him, sufficiently
motivated attackers are able to attack phones in a way that is
almost undetectable. Vulnerable cell phones can be taken over if
they are within the range of the rogue transceiver, which may
mean hundreds of phones at a time in crowded urban areas.
Attackers can cause billing problems by either dialing premium
numbers or sending text messages to premium services; or they
can monitor the complete communications of the cell phone user.
Eavesdropping on nearby cell phones is also possible by making
the vulnerable cell phone pick