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Tag: SMS

  • Signal Plans to Remove SMS Messaging From Android App

    Signal Plans to Remove SMS Messaging From Android App

    Signal has announced plans to remove SMS messaging from its Android app in a move that’s sure to disappoint users.

    Signal is one of the most popular secure messaging apps, competing with iMessage and WhatsApp while offering better security and privacy than either. On Android, the app can also handle traditional SMS and MMS messaging for communicating with users who aren’t on Signal. While SMS and MMS messages don’t offer the same level of security, it’s still a convenient way to keep all messaging in a single app.

    Unfortunately, Signal plans to remove SMS and MMS support, narrowing its focus to encrypted messaging. The company explained its decision in a blog post:

    In order to enable a more streamlined Signal experience, we are starting to phase out SMS support from the Android app. You will have several months to transition away from SMS in Signal, to export your SMS messages to another app, and to let the people you talk to know that they might want to switch to Signal, or find another channel if not.

    The company says users will need to export their SMS messages and select a new client to handle non-Signal messages. A future version of the app, one currently in beta, will provide the built-in export functionality:

    If you do use Signal as your default SMS app on Android, you will need to select a new default SMS app on your phone. If you want to keep them, you’ll also need to export your SMS messages from Signal into that new app.

    Signal says the reason for the change was primarily over security concerns and to free up resources to focus on core features:

    The most important reason for us to remove SMS support from Android is that plaintext SMS messages are inherently insecure. They leak sensitive metadata and place your data in the hands of telecommunications companies. With privacy and security at the heart of what we do, letting a deeply insecure messaging protocol have a place in the Signal interface is inconsistent with our values and with what people expect when they open Signal.

    We are focused on building secure, intuitive, reliable, and pleasant ways to connect with each other without surveillance, tracking, or targeting. Dropping support for SMS messaging also frees up our capacity to build new features (yes, like usernames) that will ensure Signal is fresh and relevant into the future. After much discussion, we determined that we can no longer continue to invest in accommodating SMS in the Android app while also dedicating the resources we need to make Signal the best messenger out there.

  • Tim Cook Isn’t Interested in Solving the ‘Green Bubble’ Problem

    Tim Cook Isn’t Interested in Solving the ‘Green Bubble’ Problem

    Apple seems largely unconcerned with the blue vs green bubble debate, with Cook saying the solution is to buy an iPhone.

    When texting a non-iPhone user, Apple’s iOS falls back to the older, more limited SMS texting protocol instead of using the newer RCS and indicates the switch by displaying the texts in green bubbles instead of the standard blue. RCS offers many of the same advantages as Apple’s iMessage, such as group administration, read receipts, file transfer, encryption, and more. Google and others have called on Apple to adopt RCS for iPhone to Android communication, but Apple CEO Tim Cook just threw cold water on that idea.

    According to The Verge, Cook was asked how Steve Jobs would have felt about RCS at Vox Media’s Code 2022 event.

    “I don’t hear our users asking that we put a lot of energy in on that at this point,” Cook responded.

    When the person who asked the question, Vox Media’s LiQuan Hunt, pointed out the problems sharing videos with his mom, who uses an Android phone, Cook had a curt response:

    “Buy your mom an iPhone,” he said.

    Hunt’s complaint highlights the heart of the issue: Apple is intentionally using an inferior protocol to communicate with Android devices, one that degrades video quality, limits file transfer, and provides no security or encryption.

    Google has called on Apple to fix texting by adopting RCS, pointing out that it will not impact communication between Apple devices. It will only improve communication between Apple and non-Apple devices. Many in the industry, including we at WPN, have made the case that Apple only refuses to support RCS as a way to discourage people from buying Android phones in favor of its iPhones.

    Perhaps Cook should look at Steve Jobs’ efforts to work with Microsoft as an indication of how he would think of RCS. Rather than focus on old turf wars between the two companies, Jobs was more concerned about what was in the best interest of his customers.

    In the meantime, thank you, Tim Cook, for saying out loud what everyone already suspected.

  • Google Updates Messages to Take On iMessages

    Google Updates Messages to Take On iMessages

    Google has taken the wraps off of new Messages features, taking aim at Apple’s iMessages and calling out Apple for not supporting broader standards.

    The incompatibility between iMessages and the rest of the texting world, comprised largely of Android, has been getting widespread attention lately. Apple’s service is a proprietary protocol that is significantly better than standard SMS, providing group administration, read receipts, file sharing, end-to-end encryption, and much more. In contrast, until recently, Android has relied on basic SMS, which lacks all of those advanced features.

    To address the issue, Google has adopted RCS, the successor to SMS. The new protocol adds most, if not all, of the features included in iMessages. The biggest weakness of the new protocol, however, is the fact that Apple has not adopted it. As a result, when iPhone and Android users text each other, the messages fall back to basic SMS with all its limitations.

    Google’s latest update works to address two of the biggest issues: emoji reactions and poor quality media.

    When iPhone users use an emoji reaction, it has always come across spelled out rather than as an emoji. For example, laughing at a message would come across as “John Doe laughed at…” Similarly, when sending photos or videos, Android significantly reduces the quality in an effort to make them compatible with the archaic SMS protocol.

    Google’s latest update to Messages maps iMessages emoji reactions to the appropriate Android emoji. In addition, rather than send large photos and videos through SMS, where they will be reduced to a blurry mess, Messages will send a link to the iPhone user, giving them a way to view the original media file as it was meant to be seen.

    In the meantime, Google minced no words in pointing out its belief that Apple should adopt the RCS standard:

    But these new updates can only do so much. We encourage Apple to join the rest of the mobile industry and adopt RCS so that we can make messaging better and more secure, no matter what device you choose.

  • Android SMS Malware Using Fake COVID-19 Notifications to Spread

    Android SMS Malware Using Fake COVID-19 Notifications to Spread

    A dangerous Android SMS malware has been using fake COVID-19 notifications to spread in the US and Canada.

    Security firm Cloudmark has issued a report on the new malware, dubbed TangleBot. The malware is particularly dangerous, as it allows the attackers a significant degree of information access and control over the compromised device.

    TangleBot uses SMS text message lures with content about COVID regulations and the third dose of COVID vaccines to trick mobile subscribers into downloading malware that compromises the security of the device and configures the system to allow for the exfiltration of confidential information to systems controlled by the attacker(s). The malware has been given the moniker TangleBot because of its many levels of obfuscation and control over a myriad of entangled device functions, including contacts, SMS and phone capabilities, call logs, internet access, and camera and microphone.

    Until a security patch is released, Cloudmark recommends users not respond to unsolicited enterprise or commercial text messages. Users should not click on any links in such text messages. If a users believes the text may be legitimate, it’s still safer to manually enter the address in a web browser, rather than click on the link in the text.

  • Postscript Raises $4.5 Million to Turbocharge Shopify SMS Marketing

    Postscript Raises $4.5 Million to Turbocharge Shopify SMS Marketing

    Postscript announced it has raised $4.5 million in seed funding to help bring turbocharged SMS marketing to Shopify and e-commerce stores.

    Postscript specializes in SMS marketing for e-commerce. The company’s goal is to help bring SMS marketing mainstream, while at the same time doing it in a way that respects users’ inboxes.

    The company has now raised $4.5 million to help it reach that goal. The investors include Y Combinator, Accomplice, 1984vc, and Ali Capital. Postscript also has the backing of some of the biggest entrepreneurial names in the e-commerce industry.

    “At Postscript, we obsess about supporting independent brands & e-commerce merchants and will always put their needs first,” said CEO Adam Turner. “Our approach to text messaging emphasizes brands build meaningful relationships with their customers by respecting the SMS inbox and encouraging two way communication. So far our competitive advantage has been our people and our product, and this funding will help us continue along that path. By operating remotely, we’re able to hire in any region, resulting in an extremely talented team dedicated to delivering a top-tier product and customer experience.”

    Postscript already claims Native, Brooklinen, StackCommerce, Frey, Oars + Alps and Olivers among its clients. The company also boasts 26x ROI with clickthrough rates ranging between 7.5% and 40%. Somewhat unique to the industry, Postscript guarantees a 4x ROI or they will refund a client’s investment — something they have not yet had to do.

    “The Postscript team has taken a product-first approach to a gigantic, fast-growing market, and the growth speaks for itself,” said angel investor Paul English, founder of Kayak. “They have outstanding founder/product/market fit, and I believe what they’re building will be an essential part of any e-commerce company’s marketing stack. I’m proud to support them in this round.”

  • Google Bringing End-to-End Encryption to RCS Messages

    Google Bringing End-to-End Encryption to RCS Messages

    Google appears prepared to bring end-to-end encryption to RCS messages, helping it better compete with Apple iMessages.

    RCS is considered the successor to basic text messages, offering a number of feature not possible with the older technology. Larger groups chats, read receipts, chat over WiFi, typing indicators, group management (adding/removing participants) and more. These are features Apple iMessages have had since the beginning, but only work when communicating with other Apple devices.

    The one area where RCS has lagged behind, however, is security. While RCS does have encryption, it does not support end-to-end encryption, which is considered the gold-standard of protecting user privacy. Now, that appears to be changing.

    According 9to5Google, APKMirror has discovered one of Google Messages internal “dog food” builds. The term “dog food” is used in software development to describe using your own product to find the flaws in it, before asking customers to use it—as in “eat your own dog food.”

    There are a number of interesting features Google appears to be working on. Just as iMessages can fall back to SMS or MMS, Google Messages will have the same option. In an improvement over iMessages, however, Google Messages will warn the user that SMS and MMS does not support encryption when falling back to it. Similarly, Google will ask if a user wants to grant access to encrypted messages to apps that otherwise have access to standard messages.

    Overall, this is a welcome upgrade to RCS messages, especially since Google rolled them out to all users in the US late last year.

  • Apple, Google Engineers Join Forces On SMS One-Time Passwords

    Apple, Google Engineers Join Forces On SMS One-Time Passwords

    Apple has received help with SMS one-time passwords from an unexpected source: a Google engineer.

    The project in question is an effort to standardize the formatting of SMS messages that are used in two-factor authentication by applications, websites and more. As AppleInsider reports, “first proposed by Apple WebKit engineers and backed by Google in January, the initiative seeks to simplify the OTP SMS mechanism commonly used by websites, businesses and other entities to confirm login credentials as part of two-step authentication systems.”

    As the project’s GitHub page points out, “Many websites deliver one-time codes over SMS.

    “Without a standard format for such messages, programmatic extraction of codes from them has to rely on heuristics, which are often unreliable and error-prone. Additionally, without a mechanism for associating such codes with specific websites, users might be tricked into providing the code to malicious sites.”

    The GitHub page lists Theresa O’Connor of Apple and Sam Goto of Google as the authors. While the two companies directly compete with one another on many fronts, their largest point of competition is the smartphone market, where iOS and Android dominate. Apple and Google working together to standardize something that impacts all users, regardless of their smartphone of choice, is good for everyone involved.

  • RCS Messages Finally Available to All U.S. Android Users

    RCS Messages Finally Available to All U.S. Android Users

    Sanaz Ahari, Google Sr. Director of Product & Design, announced Thursday via Twitter that RCS is now available for all Android users in the U.S.

    “Hi everyone! RCS is now available to all users in US as of Monday. Make sure to update both Messages and Carrier Services,” Ahari said in her tweet.

    Rich Communications Service (RCS) has long been touted as the replacement for SMS. The messaging protocol adds group texts, group management (adding/removing participants), read receipts, typing indicators, chat over WiFi and more.

    Originally, Google was waiting for carriers to implement the protocol, but they made little real progress. Two months ago, the four major U.S. carriers announced the Cross-Carrier Messaging Initiative (CCMI), based on RCS. Since then, however, there has been no visible progress. As a result, several weeks ago Google announced it was taking matters into its own hands and beginning to active RCS.

    With Thursday’s announcement, the activation is now complete, giving all Android users Apple iMessage-style communication. The only major feature that is still lacking is end-to-end encryption. iMessage, as well as apps like Signal and WhatsApp all support end-to-end encryption, but it is not part of the RCS protocol. With privacy increasingly being front-and-center, it would be surprising if Google does not figure out a way to implement it.

    In the meantime, as Ahari highlights, users should update Messages and Carrier Services to take advantage of RCS.

  • TrueDialog Database With Tens of Millions of Texts Left Exposed Online

    TrueDialog Database With Tens of Millions of Texts Left Exposed Online

    According to researchers at privacy firm vpnMentor, millions of Americans’ data is at risk following the discovery of a breached database belonging to TrueDialog. TrueDialog is “the leading SMS provider for mass text messaging, SMS marketing and personalized 2-way SMS texting at scale.”

    vpnMentor’s research team, led by Noam Rotem and Ran Locar, discovered the database, which was linked to “many aspects” of TrueDialog’s business. The database had “millions of account usernames and passwords, PII data of TrueDialog users and their customers, and much more.”

    The researchers found the database as part of a web mapping project, using port scanning “to examine particular IP blocks and test open holes in systems for weaknesses.” As ethical hackers, the company tries to identify breaches in an effort to make the web safer. Once a breach is found, they verify the database’s identity and alert the company who owns it.

    In the case of TrueDialog’s database, vpnMentor was able to access it because it was left “completely unsecured and unencrypted.” The database was 604 GB in size and “included nearly 1 billion entries of highly sensitive data.” The entries included account login details, full names, TrueDialog account holders and users, message contents, email addresses, time stamps of sent messages and more.

    vpnMentor says the type of data could make it possible for bad actors to take over TrueDialog customer accounts, engage in corporate espionage, steal identities, run phishing scams and blackmail users.

    Once the researchers verified the threat level, they reached out to TrueDialog to notify them and offer assistance in securing the database. Shortly after, access to the database was shut down, although TrueDialog never contacted vpnMentor.

    The Takeaway

    There are several lessons to be learned from TrueDialog’s data breach.

    • First and foremost, it is beyond shocking and inexcusable for a company of TrueDialog’s size and resources to be so irresponsible with customer data. There is simply no justification for leaving data—let alone highly sensitive data—unencrypted and exposed for the world to see.
    • As a general rule, when privacy researchers alert a company of a data breach, it’s never a good idea to ignore them. Even if steps are taken to fix the issue, ignoring the researchers who found it gives the impression the company doesn’t care or has something to hide.
    • Going silent is never a good response. TechCrunch was just one outlet that reached out to TrueDialog’s chief executive, John Wright, for comment. At the time of writing, John Wright and TrueDialog had not returned requests for comment or even acknowledged the breach. Wright also did not answer any of TechCrunch’s questions about what steps would be taken to alert impacted users, or notify regulators.

    In short, if there’s a single point to take away from TrueDialog’s experience, it’s this: Don’t do anything TrueDialog has done in this case.

  • Google Bringing RCS To Android Messages Starting Today

    Google Bringing RCS To Android Messages Starting Today

    Android messaging has long lagged behind iOS, where Apple Messages has included features absent from standard SMS texts. According to a CNET report, Google is rolling out a major upgrade in the U.S. starting today.

    Rich Communication Services (RCS), is an improved form of text messaging that has many of the chat-style features found in iOS, as well as apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and others.

    The new features will include:

    – Ability to send high quality photos and videos
    – Read receipts
    – Typing indicators
    – Group chat management (naming a group, adding and removing people)
    – Chat over WiFi

    The one feature that RCS does not have is end-to-end encryption, unlike iOS Messages, WhatsApp, Signal or Facebook Messenger. When asked about its absence, Sanaz Ahari, director of product management for Google’s communications services, described it as a “fairly complicated topic.”

    As CNET points out, there are other privacy concerns as well. RCS messages will be routed through Google’s servers, meaning, it could theoretically be subpoenaed to provide messages to authorities. However, Drew Rowny, Google’s product lead for Messages, “said Google deletes messages from its servers as soon as they’re sent, so it’s less likely it would have the data to hand over.”

    Whatever its limitations, RCS messages will be a welcome improvement for Android users.

  • AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Join Forces to Take Messaging to the Next Level

    AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Join Forces to Take Messaging to the Next Level

    iPhone users have long-enjoyed iMessage, an iOS-only alternative to SMS that has far more features than basic messaging. WhatsApp offers a similar approach, adding features and abilities in a cross-platform app.

    Today the four major wireless carriers announced the Cross-Carrier Messaging Initiative (CCMI), aimed at delivering iMessage or WhatsApp-like messaging to customers and businesses alike. The service will be based on the Rich Communication Services (RCS) protocol.

    The goal is to roll out the service to Android first, sometime in 2020. The CCMI service will:

    • Drive a robust business-to-consumer messaging ecosystem and accelerate the adoption of Rich Communications Services (RCS)
    • Enable an enhanced experience to privately send individual or group chats across carriers with high quality pictures and videos
    • Provide consumers with the ability to chat with their favorite brands, order a rideshare, pay bills or schedule appointments, and more
    • Create a single seamless, interoperable RCS experience across carriers, both in the U.S. and globally

    “People love text messaging for a reason. Texting is trusted, reliable and readily available—which is why we’re using it to build the foundation of a simple, immersive messaging experience,” said David Christopher, executive vice president and general manager, AT&T Mobility. “This service will power new and innovative ways for customers to engage with each other and their favorite brands.”

    “The CCMI will bring a consistent, engaging experience that makes it easy for consumers and businesses to interact in an environment they can trust,” said Michel Combes, President & CEO of Sprint. “As we have seen in Asia, messaging is poised to become the next significant digital platform. CCMI will make it easy for consumers to navigate their lives from a smartphone.”

    “At the Un-carrier, customers drive everything we do, and that’s no different here,” said John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile. “Efforts like CCMI help move the entire industry forward so we can give customers more of what they want and roll out new messaging capabilities that work the same across providers and even across countries.”

    “At Verizon, our customers depend on reliable text messaging to easily connect them to the people they care about most. Yet, we can deliver even more working together as an industry,” said Ronan Dunne, CEO of Verizon Consumer Group. “CCMI will create the foundation for an innovative digital platform that not only connects consumers with friends and family, but also offers a seamless experience for consumers to connect with businesses in a compelling and trusted environment.”

    With all four of the major carriers on board, the CCMI will hopefully usher in the next generation of messaging, bringing welcome improvements to one of the most heavily used phone services.

  • EndlessJabber Lets Android Users Send And Receive Texts Remotely

    EndlessJabber is a new Android app, which enables users to send and receive SMS/MMS messages from any PC, tablet, web browser or XMPP client. The folks behind it are currently raising funds through KickStarter.

    Here’s why you might find the app useful: if you frequently use other devices such as a PC at work, laptop in class, tablet on the couch, etc., it’s often inconvenient to reach into your pocket to grab your phone or to retrieve it from wherever it might be charging, to view and reply to text messages. Once you’ve installed the Android app, EndlessJabber lets you use the other device you’re already using to view and reply to the text message quickly and easily.

    You can use the service from a web app (at endlessjabber.com/web), but there are also Chrome and Firefox extensions.

    The app promises safe and secure 128 bit encryption of data.

    For a couple dollars a month, users can upgrade to the Pro version, which opens up access to some more interesting features.

    JabberMode circumvents the deficiencies of the Google Cloud Messaging platform and sleep mode on most phones. As described on the Kickstarter page, “With JabberMode turned on, the phone creates a persistent bi-directional connection with the server that is immune to GCM slowdown due to overload, as well as lag due to phone radio sleep state. Using this connection, messages are sent and receives from the phone to our API’s almost immediately, ensuring that you send and receive text messages as fast as your carrier can deliver them!”

    Also available in Pro are a search feature, themes, a scheduler, XMPP integration (such as Pidgin or Trillian), personalized signatures, unlimited retention, and analytics.

    The analytics can be accessed from the web app. You can see charts for the number of sent and received messages in the last five days and the number of messages sent and received from the top five contacts. It also provides an aggregate view of sent/received messages by day of week, month of year, and hour of day.

    To use EndlessJabber, you have to install the app on your Android phone, follow its quick and easy set-up process, which includes the option to sync your old messages, and go to the web interface to use it from your other device. It’s really quite simple and works well.

    EndlessJabber already has over 14,000 users and a Google Play rating of 4.4. It also works on Android KitKat, unlike some other apps.

    Images via Kickstarter

  • Police Sting Op Sends Accidental Texts to Man

    KSAZ News 10 in Arizona reports that a man found himself in the middle of a scary situation recently when his phone started receiving text messages from an unknown sender.

    This wasn’t just some comical incident where someone texts a wrong number, perhaps with a hookup offer or other message that makes for great entertainment fodder on the Internet days later. This string of messages got stranger and stranger.

    The man does not want to be identified because he is concerned about the dozens of messages he has gotten. As he read through them, he realized that he was being fed information regarding a police sting operation.

    “After a while, I’m reading the texts and it seems these people are stealing a car, they had a site plan, they had a place to meet, a place to go, how fast to go, who’s covering each exit, I didn’t want to reply to that,” he said.

    The man began to get worried and eventually called the Glendale, Arizona Police department. They told him they needed to check out what was going on and call him back. Twenty minutes later they called to confirm that he was indeed receiving mass texts that were intended for the members of the task force involved in a sting operation. They apologized, but the texts kept coming for a while.

    “Well, they said possible vehicle to be stolen, so I guess it was a sting operation for stolen vehicles or something I don’t know so somehow you ended up on a mass text for an undercover sting operation is that what you’re thinking that’s it,” he said.

    As the area media began to investigate the other numbers included in the mass text broadcast, they determined that the operation was not an actual sting, but rather a practice operation in place for training purposes. The police assured them that they would not use text messages in an actual sting, and that in this case the unnamed man’s phone number had been accidentally entered in their mass text broadcast.

    Image via ThinkStock

  • Messaging Revenue Down as Messaging Apps Take Off

    As popular social networking sites such as Facebook become populated with, well, everyone, teens are now escaping to the relative privacy that messaging apps provide. WhatsApp and SnapChat are now two of the most popular mobile apps, and it seems this trend is affecting more than just Facebook and social media.

    Market research firm Strategy Analytics this week pointed out that messaging revenue for mobile providers may have peaked in 2012. The firm estimates that global mobile operator revenue from SMS and MMS declined in 2013, down nearly 4% from last year to around $104 billion. The firm’s report predicts that this trend will continue, with operator revenues from messaging falling 20% by the year 2017.

    “The fast rising popularity of smartphone messaging applications, both from smartphone vendors Blackberry and Apple, and independent messaging applications like WhatsApp, Line Messenger and WeChat, is significantly hurting both operator messaging volumes and revenue,” said Nitesh Patel, director for Wireless Media Strategies at Strategy Analytics. “While SMS volumes remained flat in 2013, operator revenue from messaging declined by almost 4 percent”

    In addition to the popularity of messaging apps that use data rather than operator messaging services, messaging revenue is likely be affected by the increased saturation of established markets. The U.S. mobile market in particular is quickly running out of potential new subscribers, which could potentially lead to stagnating messaging volumes. Strategy Analytics predicts that SMS volumes alone will fall 3% by the year 2017.

  • Law Enforcement Now Wants Wireless Carriers To Store Your Text Messages As Evidence

    Last week, the ECPA amendment that would greatly enhance Americans’ privacy has passed its first hurdle in the Senate. Now the bill will head for a proper vote in the Senate and House next year. If passed in its current state, the bill will force law enforcement to obtain a warrant when snooping through your email. Law enforcement groups wont give up without a fight though, and are even adding other communication methods to the negotiation table.

    CNET reports that law enforcement groups have submitted a proposal to the US Senate asking them to pass a law that would require wireless carriers to Americans’ text messages for two years. The groups argue that text messages, much like email, are increasingly required in criminal investigations.

    What information would be stored under the proposed law? It’s not exactly clear at the moment, but it could go in two directions. Either law enforcement wants access to all of your texts including what you said in them, or they just want the metadata that includes the sender and recipients of the text. My guess is on the former considering law enforcement’s push to have nearly limitless access to Americans’ emails.

    While it sounds like a flagrant abuse of power and an imminent invasion of privacy, the law enforcement groups do have one point that should be considered. There needs to be a standard on if and how wireless carriers store text messages. Among companies, there’s no consensus on how long this data must be stored as some companies keep records for years while others keep no records at all.

    It should be noted that this is just a proposal for now. There’s no telling if the Senate will take it up as an added amendment to the ECPA early next year, but chances are pretty good. Law enforcement really wants the warrant requirement to die, but it may not get that. Setting a standard for how long wireless carriers must hold onto text messages would be a nice consolation prize.

    ECPA is going to be a hot ticket item as the 113th Congress begins early next year. There are going to be a lot more amendments proposed from both sides of the aisle, and it has the potential to get really messy.

    In short, this is one to bust out the popcorn for. It’s gonna be good.

  • New Android Malware Steals Your Money Via SMS

    Android is an incredibly open system. For the most part, that’s a very good thing. Sometimes, however, it can be a very bad thing. For instance, malware is easier to spread across Android devices due to its open nature. Unfortunately, a new and powerful piece of malware is making its way around the Android ecosystem.

    TrustGo Security recently stumbled upon a new piece of malware that can take control of your phone to make unauthorized payments, steal bank card numbers and more. They call it Trojan!SMSZombie.A and it’s a doozy. The good news is that it’s currently only infecting users in China, but the bad news is that it could make it’s way over here at any time.

    The team at TrustGo has found the malware to be hosted on various apps at GFan, China’s largest mobile app marketplace. The nasty piece of software can be found hiding in provocative wallpaper apps. It’s an easy sell since nothing attracts downloads like pictures of models and their ilk.

    What’s worse is that the malware in question refuses to say no. Upon installing, the app will ask for various permissions. You can hit cancel but it will just reload the permissions page once again. In other words, it forces users to accept the terms of their infection.

    After it’s been installed, the malware will intercept and forward SMS messages on your behalf. This is a much bigger deal in China as users send money via SMS. It’s still something to be wary of even here in the U.S. as SMS often contains private info that third parties should not have access to.

    For now, the malware can only be manually removed. Fortunately, the guys at TrustGo have a handy guide that will show you how to remove it. They’re also working on an automatic removal process for the next update to their app.

    Once again, this virus is currently only ravaging Chinese Android phones, but that doesn’t mean people in other countries are immune. It could just as easily find its way into the many third-party app stores out there. That’s why it’s recommended to only download apps from Google Play. Google has software that scans apps throughout Google Play to make sure they’re virus free.

    If all else fails, only download apps from developers you can trust. I know it’s hard to resist the provocative wallpaper app, but there are plenty of those from trusted developers.

  • Worldwide Mobile Payments to Hit $171 Billion in 2012

    The IT analysts at Gartner, Inc. have announced that worldwide mobile payment transaction values will reach $171.5 billion this year. That is a 61.9% increase over 2011. The number of mobile payment users will also significantly increase this year, hitting at least 212 million users.

    “We expect global mobile transaction volume and value to average 42 percent annual growth between 2011 and 2016, and we are forecasting a market worth $617 billion with 448 million users by 2016,” said Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner. “This will bring opportunities for service and solution providers who will need to cater to the local demand patterns to customize their offerings.”

    Gartner said the mobile payments market would remain “fragmented” for at least the next two years, with local markets using a variety of technology and business models. In addition, different regulations around the world will prevent consolidation of the market.

    “There will be a few global players that have the scale and resources to serve large customers and the mass market whose requirements can be readily satisfied by standard solutions,” Shen said. “However, there will always be segments that cannot be sufficiently served by the global players. The demand of these segments can only be satisfied by specialized or local players who can better understand the segment and have specific solutions to meet the unique challenges.”

    Though NFC technologies are beginning to proliferate into the smartphone market, Gartner predicts that mobile payments using the technology will remain low until 2015. In the meantime, SMS will remain the dominant technology in developing mobile markets and Web/WAP will continue to be highly used in North America and Europe.

    “NFC payment involves a change in user behavior and requires collaboration among stakeholders that includes banks, mobile carriers, card networks and merchants,” said Shen. “It takes time for both to happen, so we don’t expect NFC payments to come into the mass market before 2015. In the meantime, ticketing, rather than retail payment, will drive NFC transactions.”

  • Apple Patents Mass-Texting New Contact Info

    Everybody knows what a pain it can be to change your phone number. Not only do you have to memorize your new number (a step some people never bother to take), you have to update your contact info all over the place, and you have to let all your friends know that your old number doesn’t work anymore. If you’re the kind of person with an address book full of people who need your digits, getting them all your new contact info can be a pain. Sure you can post it on Facebook or Twitter, but what if you don’t want all your Facebook friends or Twitter followers to have your number?

    With current technology, you have to either send out a massive email, or bombard everyone you know with texts. Now, thanks to group texting, that last one isn’t too terribly difficult, but it is still a bit time consuming. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a way to just have your new contact info go out to everybody in your address book?

    If you think so, then you may be in luck. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has just granted Apple a patent for that very technology. The patent deals with a smartphone feature that will automatically detect when your phone’s number changes and send out a mass text to the people in your address book, letting them know your new contact info.

    Of course, you may not want to text everybody in your address book about your new number (for example: my local Pizza Hut has no need to know the best way to get ahold of me). The patent doesn’t mention any customization options with this feature, but it’s highly unlikely that Apple wouldn’t include the ability to select who gets your new info.

    Unfortunately, this is only a patent, so there’s no real clue as to when we might actually see this sort of feature coming to the iPhone. On the other hand, it seems like a fairly straightforward software issue, so there is likely no reason it couldn’t be incorporated as soon as iOS 6, which should be coming out this autumn with the next iPhone.

    What do you think? Would you like to see a feature like this come to the iPhone? Let us know in the comments.

  • Twitter SMS: Satellite Support Added

    Twitter SMS: Satellite Support Added

    Twitter announced today that it has partnered with Iridium and Thuraya, the two largest satellite operators, so that subscribers of these services have access to Twitter SMS.

    “Now, even if phone lines and the Internet are inaccessible — for example, in a war zone or after a natural disaster — people will be able to share news and stay informed via Twitter,” the company says on its blog.

    “We work with as many carriers as we can to support SMS around the world,” Twitter says. “If your carrier does not currently support Twitter SMS, you can still Tweet. Just use one of our long codes.”

    Those can be found here.

    As the company points out, Twitter did begin as an SMS service. Over the years, Twitter has become even more SMS-friendly, as evidenced by today’s update.

    For example, in 2010, Twitter started letting users in the U.S. follow Twitter accounts via SMS without actually signing up for Twitter.

  • iPhone App That Could Save Careers

    iPhone App That Could Save Careers

    There is no shortage of apps and add-ons to iPhones that are huge helps to people.

    Within apps alone, you can do your banking, queue up (or watch) Netflix choices, edit HD photos, learn to play guitar, or buy anything on Amazon and track the UPS shipment.

    With some simple accessories that plug in to the iPhone, you can record in stereo, take telephoto lens pictures, and swipe credit cards.

    So, why hasn’t some enterprising developer come up with this career-saving add-on yet? I’m sure there are lots of young, upwardly-mobile professionals who would appreciate someone, or something, having their back on a Saturday night. For company-issued phones, it should be installed by IT before ever being put into anyone’s hands.

    In fact, if RIM makes it to this first, it might just be the biggest comeback story of the year.

  • Free Text Messaging App From Yahoo: Hub

    Were you just thinking to yourself: “I wish there were an easier way to have conversations from my phone?” If so, Yahoo claims to have the solution with its mobile app Hub, which comes with the tagline: “conversations made easy”.

    In this announcement for the app on the Yahoo Mail blog, there is only mention of an Android version, and no mention of an iPhone version, though an iPhone is shown in the image provided (above) – I guess to just show that iPhone users can still get text messages from it.

    “For those heavy texters out there, we are excited to introduce Hub, a fast and easy-to-use mobile messaging app that allows you to send text messages and have group conversations for free,” says the Yahoo Mail team. “Hub allows you to easily add participants to any conversation thread so it’s easy to switch from private messaging to a group conversation. Whether it is just keeping up with a close group of friends or making spontaneous plans, you no longer have to deal with scattered messages.”

    “What’s more, Hub allows you to send messages to anyone without incurring any text messaging fees,” the company adds. “Yes, you heard us right. There are no text messaging fees – messages are sent over WIFI or using your data connection – and Hub is device agnostic, which means you can communicate with anyone on any mobile device as long as you have their mobile phone numbers. Your friends are not required to download the app in order to reply to your messages although they are strongly encouraged to do so in order to enjoy the full feature set!”

    This isn’t the first app to to offer free text messaging, but the Yahoo brand probably won’t hurt in it getting some downloads. It has group messaging, and support for local and international SMS messages.

    You do have to have a Yahoo ID to use the app from the looks of it.

    Earlier this week, Yahoo launched a new version of Yahoo Messenger (11.5). Yahoo lists the highlights as follows:

  • Tabbed IMs – With tabbed IMs, all of your IMs are in one window and you can easily tab back and forth between conversations.
  • Improved Spam Management – You can now easily ignore multiple spam add requests with one easy click.
    New Social Games – We’ve added some popular new games to Messenger 11.5 including Backyard Monsters, Township and ourWorld—and have made it easier to get your friends involved in sharing your game activities.
  • Smart Archiving — Conversations are easily archived by friends with the most recent conversation showing up first. These conversations can be accessed from any PC or web browser where you’ve signed into Y! Messenger.