Making Carriers Shoulder Smartphone Security 57
Posted
by
timothy
from the wait-for-per-byte-malware-removal-fee dept.
from the wait-for-per-byte-malware-removal-fee dept.
alphadogg writes "Georgia Tech researchers have received a $450,000 NSF grant to boost security of iPhones, BlackBerries and other smartphones and the wireless networks on which they run. And it's those networks where the researchers are really zeroing in. The researchers are looking into ways wireless carriers such as AT&T and Verizon can detect malware on devices and clean up the devices before they do further damage. 'While a single user might realize that a phone is behaving differently, that person probably won't know why,' says Patrick Traynor, assistant professor at Georgia Tech’s School of Computer Science. 'But a cell phone provider may see a thousand devices behaving in the same way and have the ability to do something about it.' Georgia Tech is going to build out a cellular network test bed to try out its remote repair techniques."
Oh great (Score:5, Interesting)
So they are going to deploy the ability to remotely update the users device. Because the bad guys will never figure out how the company does it. I can see it now. An entire carriers smart cell line bricked by a remote exploit that updates phones.
Rather not... (Score:1, Interesting)
I'd really rather not allow a company access to "clean up" my devices. While this might be good in certain corporate or university based environments where all the equipment is owned by a central group, is isn't a good idea for public cellular networks where individuals own the phones. That is, unless we go to a phone lease system instead of purchase. I should really shutup before I give the networks more ideas on how to screw us over...