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Music and Movies Could Trigger Mobile Malware

Posted by timothy on from the seeds-of-your-own-destruction dept.

mask.of.sanity writes "Lights, sounds and magnetic fields can be used to activate malware on phones, new research has found. The lab-style attacks defined in a paper (PDF) used pre-defined signals hidden in songs and TV programmes as a trigger to activate embedded malware. Malware once activated would carry out programmed attacks either by itself or as part of a wider botnet of mobile devices."

3 of 88 comments (clear)

  1. A good reason by Vombatus · · Score: 4, Informative

    to turn your phones off whilst watching a movie!

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    This sig is intentionally blank
    1. Re:A good reason by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

      Funny. When I want to use something that "just works", I use Windows. All the applications and games that I expect are in that ecosystem.
      If I want to be in a pay-walled garden, I use OS X. Gave up that a couple of years ago after trying it for a couple of years.
      If I want to tinker with the notion of "desktop" and "window manager", I install Linux. Done that since Red Hat in 1998 or so. Linux Mint left me impressed, but, nothing I expect is available.
      Now and then, I try Open^H^H^H^HLibre Office. Simple things just don't work as expected, such as referencing columns and simple spreadsheets give alot of pauses for being so small. I fantastize about using Base for my needs, but it just doesn't work without nasty surprises, just as all Linux distros.
      I'm happy for Microsoft's screwups, but frankly, they deliver the best software deal when they get it right.
      Hopefully, free software and open source will "get" usability and user expectations some day. I know it costs money / time, but I'm still hopeful.

      Kudos for minimizing Windows usage. I'm not there when I just want to get things done, not tinkering and failing to make it work without heavy customizations, which break within the next couple of upgrades.

  2. Re:Copyright conspiracy theory: by RDW · · Score: 4, Informative

    Current Blu-ray players are already infected with malware that shuts them down when a certain pattern of sounds is detected:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinavia