SMS-Sending Bug Found in avast! Mobile Security

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Jack

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Jan 24, 2011
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Softpedia said:
A few days ago, independent security researcher Bogdan Alecu claimed to have identified a serious issue that affected avast! Mobile Security. Apparently, the app sent out SMSs without the users’ knowledge, inflating their phone bills.

The researcher identified the issue while testing the application. He found that the app would send out an SMS message to a number from the Czech Republic, most likely belonging to the company.

“I was checking my balance on the phone and noticed that 0.12 EUR were missing. Hmm, maybe I have sent a message to some of my Roaming SIM cards,” he explained.

“I logged on to my account to check why I have been billed. I noticed that indeed a message was sent to a number outside my country, but after checking the number I realized this number was not mine.”

Digging a little deeper, Alecu found that he wasn’t the only one who noticed such activity after installing the app, some users reporting such occurrences since late August.

Many were unhappy with the fact that the applications sent SMSs without their knowledge and thought that it was some sort of a secret mechanism implemented by the security firm.

However, what appeared to be a serious issue at first, turned out to be a bug that affected only a limited number of users because it was only triggered when certain tasks were performed in a particular order.

Read more: http://news.softpedia.com/news/SMS-Sending-Bug-Found-in-avast-Mobile-Security-Company-Rushes-to-Address-Issue-293030.shtml
 
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