Stopping robocalls to your smartphone

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Robocalls are infuriating. They’re even more annoying, and also dangerous, when they target mobile phones. Imagine expecting a call from family while you’re driving. You really shouldn’t answer, but then imagine reaching for your phone and seeing a number you don’t recognize. Maybe it’s a business call? Then you answer and it’s a robocall.

Everyone with a mobile phone has had this experience way too often. If this is driving you nuts, then check out this useful article on ways to avoid these annoying robocalls by installing an app on your smartphone.

  

iPhone to Get SMS Vulnerability Fix

iPhone SMS.As smartphones become more popular we’re going to see more and more hacks designed to exploit any vulnerability within the phone. As long as the iPhone’s been around, and as widespread as it is, it’s surprising we’ve not seen more news like this.

Though the first of its kind in a while, this iPhone vulnerability is pretty serious. OS X security expert Charlie Miller says through an SMS exploit, attackers could run code using the messaging service. Such an exploit could allow an attacker to track the phone via GPS, enable the microphone for eavesdropping, or even use the phone for a botnet or distributed DOS attack.

At just 140 bytes of data per message, SMS is one of very few ways a hacker can access an iPhone wirelessly. Attackers can send multiple messages to the phone to recompiled once on the device for the exploits mentioned. The real danger is that SMS can be used to send binary to an iPhone, removing user interaction from the equation.

That’s a whole lot more than most iPhone users probably think their phones capable, which is what makes fixing the vulnerability so important. According to Miller, Apple should have the hole patched later this month, before he gives a presentation on the hack at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas.