Nokia wants to filter messages

NOKIA has written to mobile phone operators to ask them to filter or block certain malicious SMS messages that can be sent to Symbian-based phones.

Once the SMS is accepted by the Symbian phone it means that it is blocked from receiving any more SMS or MMS messages.

Dubbed the "Curse of Silence", Symbian phones running on S60 versions 2.6, 2.8, 3.0 and 3.1 are vulnerable to the problem.

It was mentioned at a conference sponsored by the Chaos Computer Club in December, but at the time said that there was no real risk.

It said that it had received no complaints from customers either. This is probably because a hacker can't make any cash off the back of the exploit and it is only has nuisance value.

Nokia said that it takes security vulnerabilities seriously and is telling customers not to open SMS text messages from people they don't know until it comes up with a fix for the glitch.

Dutch T-Mobile is apparently cooperating with Nokia and is thinking about sending out a firmware update.

L'Inq
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