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If Criminals Are Smart Enough To Hack Old Nokia's, Can't They Keep A Secret?
from the thankfully-criminals-are-dumb dept
If you have an old Nokia 1100 phone, maybe it's time to dust it off and try selling it in Germany where hackers claim to have figured out a way to use certain Nokia phones to steal authentication codes for bank transactions. There are a few reports that these old phones (if they were made in a very specific factory, not just any old model...) are selling for ridiculous amounts -- ranging from $700 to $30,000 -- presumably because the handsets are so hard to find and are valuable to hackers prone to crime. So far, Nokia says it can't imagine any way for these old phones to be hacked for banking fraud. But not surprisingly, security vendors are quick to point out the plausibility of this type of phone hacking -- since security firms can obviously benefit from unfounded fears that encourage consumers to buy security software regardless of the actual need for it. Is it really that hard to ask a security vendor what the likelihood would be for a criminal to actually succeed in such a scam? Hopefully, the odds of actually stealing any money with these ancient phones are approaching zero -- especially now that the tools to implement the fraud are known and apparently getting quite expensive. Perhaps the real suckers in this story are the gullible hackers who are buying old phones in shady forums for prices that are well more than the phones are worth?
Reader Comments
(Flattened / Threaded)
Sounds like an Urban Legend
This sounds like an Urban Legend to me.
Still, I have this old Nokia I'm willing to sell. I would hang onto it and sell it to this guy I know, but I need the money right now. Tell you what. I'll sell it to you for $500 because I need the cash; you can sell it to this guy I know for THOUSANDS.
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It's the security industry's version of the Nigeria scam.
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lol....I own 2 of them. How does one check the manufacturer location?
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I wonder if
1. Find a create of old phones in an empty warehouse
2. Spread a bogus rumour that they can be used to steal banking passwords
3. Profit.
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Re: I wonder if
Opps that was supposed to be "crate".
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Re: I wonder if
There is no step 2!
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Re: an apparent inability to "keep it a secret" . . . it seems to me that many a hacker would rather be famous than rich.
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Please ...
If crooks are buying these phones for as much as $30k, it's because some of them are making real money with the phones. IMHO, it's seriously naïve to dismiss this as a few "gullible hackers." Just because we don't know exactly what they're doing, doesn't mean they don't.
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Re: Please ...
I didn't mean to suggest that this whole story boils down to a few "gullible hackers" -- but if this security threat were actually as serious as some make it sound, shouldn't there be an estimate of how big of a problem this is? Something along the lines of $XXX,000 per year may be stolen using spoofed bank authentication codes...? If a security vendor actually stated something like that -- then the banking industry would have to respond seriously. Just saying the threat is "plausible" -- but offering no context about "how plausible" -- is either fear-mongering or merely idle speculation.
So as other comments above have pointed out, this story sounds like an urban legend due to the lack of supporting facts or any kind of critical analysis....
Perhaps Wired can help us out and investigate further? I'm sure it would be much appreciated!
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If these phones are really changing hands for upwards of 30k there has to be some truth to this story. That's way beyond the figures speculation justifies. If you want to stay current on mobile security http://www.justaskgemalto.com/en/search/node/mobile is a good place to visit regularly.
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i have a nokia 1100 made in germany to sell
myckky3000@yahoo.com
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nokia 1100 rh18 germany 2004
i have a nokia for sale: model:1100
type:rh-18
made in Germany
code:0521019
date:25-10-2004
contact me at pelo1609@yahoo.com
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nokai1100
i have to nokia 1100 made in germany 2004 rh-18, if someone is intresting to buy it just make me a offer
thanks in advance
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i have nokia 1100 from germany from 2004
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+37379111002 Moldova
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i am one of the fortunate people with nokia 1100 rh-18 made in Germany. Please contact me if interested +233264936710
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