News

It's the "Nokia Hacker" phone; it's worth £22K!

It used to be called the Nokia 1100 - and it has a software flaw. So if you have one, you can reprogram it to receive txts intended for someone else. And if that txt contains a banking password...

Quoting fraud investigator Frank Engelsman who works for Ultrascan Advanced Global Investigations, Jeremy Kirk reported that this (obsolete, 2003) model is now in such demand, that prices have reached £22K - but only for the flawed models made in a particular factory. He quoted Engelsman:

"The phones can be used to intercept one-time passwords needed to complete an online banking transaction. It appears that a known Russian and Moroccan cybercrime gang, as well as other Romanian gangs, are trying to obtain the Nokia 1100 with the vulnerable software.

"Cybercriminals have collected thousands of user names and passwords for online banking accounts in countries such as Germany and Holland. Banks in those countries also request a transaction authentication number (TAN) code, or a one-time password, to complete a transaction.

"The banks previously issued lists of TAN codes to customers. During a transaction, the bank would request one of the codes to complete the transaction. However, due to successful phishing attacks where people have been tricked into revealing some TAN codes, the banks are now sending a code by SMS (Short Message Service) to a person's mobile phone,"

the report concluded. And the Nokia 1100 (hacker edition) can intercept that.