Now this is pretty disgusting behaviour from a national telco provider, but well is it really surprising in Dubai? For me..no it’s not.

I’ve spent a reasonable amount of time in Dubai on various projects, and my first surprise was Flickr being blocked. Especially as Dubai is probably the most liberal place in the Middle East. But now this massive invasion of privacy is taking it one BIG step too far, the sneaky way in which it was done is unforgivable too.

I hope Etisalat sees a mass exodus of users leaving their service and joining one that doesn’t try and send a copy of their e-mails and messages to some central location.

An update for Blackberry users in the United Arab Emirates could allow unauthorised access to private information and e-mails. The update was prompted by a text from UAE telecoms firm Etisalat, suggesting it would improve performance. Instead, the update resulted in crashes or drastically reduced battery life.

Blackberry maker Research in Motion (RIM) said in a statement the update was not authorised, developed, or tested by RIM. Etisalat is a major telecommunications firm based in the UAE, with 145,000 Blackberry users on its books.

In the statement, RIM told customers that “Etisalat appears to have distributed a telecommunications surveillance application… independent sources have concluded that it is possible that the installed software could then enable unauthorised access to private or confidential information stored on the user’s smartphone”.

With 145,000 BB users, that’s a fair amount of data they could have been harvesting with their covertly installed monitoring software.

Thankfully the users realised something was wrong with the crashes and terrible battery life not usually seen on Blackberry devices. And RIM have come forward in a responsible manner stating it had nothing to do with them and offering a fix for affected users.

The concern over this unauthorised access only came to light when users started reporting problems with their handsets. After downloading the update, users across the country noticed significantly reduced battery life, poor reception and in some cases, handsets stopped working altogether. Users have complained that the firm’s customer service is unable to provide information on the problem. Initial advice led many users to simply buy new batteries.

The update has now been identified as an application developed by American firm SS8. The California-based company describes itself as a provider of “lawful electronic intercept and surveillance solutions”. It is not clear why Etisalat wanted to include the software in the download.

The firm issued a brief statement last week, calling the problem a “slight technical fault”, saying that the “upgrades were required for service enhancements”.

Yah…sure! A slight technical fault led to installing spyware on your users phones? Ok, I believe you. How does snooping on your users classify as a service enchantment?

Well the competitors certainly don’t offer the same spyware service, so you can claim to be unique at least.

Shame on you Etisalat, really, shame on you.

Source: BBC (Thanks Navin)

The number of Crackberry Blackberry users is increasing exponentially – especially since they released the much sexier Bold and the latest touch-screen Storm.

The latest revelation is that used BlackBerries are being traded, not by the value of the phone but by the value of the data contained on the phone!

It just shows most companies still don’t have responsible disposal policies when it comes to releasing old equipment and making sure it’s wiped of data or destroyed.

A TV investigation has revealed that secondhand BlackBerries on Nigerian markets are priced according to the data held on them, not the age or the model of a phone.

Jon Godfrey, director of Sims LifeCycle Services, who is advising on a TV investigation into the trade due to screen later this year, said that BlackBerries sell for between $25 to $65 on Lagos markets. Details of the trade come from an agent in Nigeria unaffiliated to Sims’ technology recycling business.

Godfrey explained that the smart phones offered for sale come from the US, continental Europe and the UK. “It’s unclear as yet whether the phones are either sold, thrown away, lost or stolen,” Godfrey explained.

Other type of smartphone are also of potential interest to data thieves, but it is the trade in BlackBerries that seems to be the most active. Data retrieved from smartphones is itraded by crooks in Nigeria.

I’d imagine the phones are older models sold off by lot from companies upgrading to the newer versions of the BlackBerry.

The BlackBerry is a wise choice for data thieves as it’s more likely to be used for business purposes and contain important e-mail information.

Other smart phones would be used more for media and leisure purposes.

BlackBerries include technology to remotely wipe devices and come with built-in encryption. But this encryption is often left switched off because it is considered an inconvenience.

“Business critical data is left on unprotected devices,” Godfrey explained. “Anyone who gets these devices will obtain a snapshot of someone’s life.”

“People need to take residual data issues more seriously and have a policy on how to use and dispose of devices,” he added.

According to a survey by endpoint security firm Credant Technologies, four in five mobile phone users store information on their phones that might easily be used to steal their identities. A survey of 600 commuters at London railway stations revealed that 16 per cent kept their bank account details saved on their mobiles, while 24 per cent also saved their PIN numbers and passwords in the same insecure manner. One in 10 (11 per cent) keep social security and inland revenue details on their phone. Two in five fail to take even basic security precautions, such as password protecting their devices.

It’s scary the amount of people that keep really important stuff in their phones like their bank PIN numbers, banking passwords, passport numbers, social security info and much more.

And only 3 out of 5 take some basic security precautions like passwording their device, that means the number who actually encrypt their data and secure it properly would be less than 5%.

Source: The Register