Nokia today released a software update that fixes a well known Bluetooth security flaw. This flaw is more than six months old, but hey at least it got patched. The phones affected are the Nokia 6230, 6650, 6810, 6820, and 7200. According to News.com "Nokia did not say exactly where customers might get the patches, or whether they will be able to apply the fixes themselves."
More than six months after acknowledging a Bluetooth security flaw in a number of its mobile phones, Nokia said it has released a software upgrade that fixes the vulnerabilities in some of its products.
In February, Nokia and Sony Ericsson admitted that some of their Bluetooth-enabled phones were vulnerable to "bluesnarfing," which means that an attacker could read, modify and copy the phone's address book and calendar without leaving any trace of the intrusion. Some handsets contain an even more serious vulnerability that allows the phone to be "taken over" by the attacker, who could then use it to make phone calls, send text messages and modify the handset's settings.
Once the problems were discovered, Sony Ericsson offered to update any affected handsets, but Nokia said it did not think the vulnerabilities were serious enough to warrant an upgrade. However, following pressure from customers, Nokia announced in May that it would provide a software upgrade in "the summer" but did not set a firm date for its release. On Thursday, Nokia confirmed that it had released updates for five of its handsets and reiterated that it will issue fixes for all remaining vulnerable devices by the end of the summer. Fixes are now available for the Nokia 6230, 6650, 6810, 6820 and 7200, the company said in a statement.
News source: C|Net News.com
More than six months after acknowledging a Bluetooth security flaw in a number of its mobile phones, Nokia said it has released a software upgrade that fixes the vulnerabilities in some of its products.
In February, Nokia and Sony Ericsson admitted that some of their Bluetooth-enabled phones were vulnerable to "bluesnarfing," which means that an attacker could read, modify and copy the phone's address book and calendar without leaving any trace of the intrusion. Some handsets contain an even more serious vulnerability that allows the phone to be "taken over" by the attacker, who could then use it to make phone calls, send text messages and modify the handset's settings.
Once the problems were discovered, Sony Ericsson offered to update any affected handsets, but Nokia said it did not think the vulnerabilities were serious enough to warrant an upgrade. However, following pressure from customers, Nokia announced in May that it would provide a software upgrade in "the summer" but did not set a firm date for its release. On Thursday, Nokia confirmed that it had released updates for five of its handsets and reiterated that it will issue fixes for all remaining vulnerable devices by the end of the summer. Fixes are now available for the Nokia 6230, 6650, 6810, 6820 and 7200, the company said in a statement.
News source: C|Net News.com
Updates
According to the article at MSNBC, the new iPod will also contain the following features:
Personally, I am hoping that some of these new features will be made available to existing users through firmware updates. I guess we will just have wait and see...
that is one of the funniest words i have ever seen
snarf: (snarf), vt.
1. To grab, esp. to grab a large document or file for the purpose of using it with or without the author's permission. See also BLT.
2. (in the Unix community) To fetch a file or set of files across a network. See also blast. This term was mainstream in the late 1960s, meaning ‘to eat piggishly’. It may still have this connotation in context. “He's in the snarfing phase of hacking — FTPing megs of stuff a day.”
3. To acquire, with little concern for legal forms or politesse (but not quite by stealing). “They were giving away samples, so I snarfed a bunch of them.”
4. Syn. for slurp. “This program starts by snarfing the entire database into core, then....”
5. (GEnie) To spray food or programming fluids due to laughing at the wrong moment. “I was drinking coffee, and when I read your post I snarfed all over my desk.” “If I keep reading this topic, I think I'll have to snarf-proof my computer with a keyboard condom.” [This sense appears to be widespread among mundane teenagers —ESR] The sound of snarfing is splork!.
Edit: "bluesnarfing" seems to be derived from sense 1.
Last edited by 21337 on 23 Jul 2004 - 09:27
Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!
Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.