Friday, July 11, 2008

Series 60 Third Edition Malware Isexplayer. The true Story.


Okay.. I am the guy who reported this story initially.. and now I see that it has created a storm within the Symbian circles...


The issue was first reported on Esato by me and then on Techtree.. and subsequently on Symbian Freak and then on All About Symbian

This is what the initial reports looked like..

"Just as you thought the new Series 60 third edition handsets were a safer bet than the older ones, here’s something to be worried about. Probably the first malware/virus for Series 60 third edition is making rounds on the Internet. It is well known that earlier series 60 editions were plagued by malware issues ranging from the Commwarrior variants, Skull to Caribe. The newest kid on the block, a software called “Isexplayer” acts as a pornographic portal offering various “services”. Once you install the .sis file, it is reported that the software dials a premium rate international phone number – automatically and that too randomly without the owners’ knowledge. Interesting to note is that the software does ask for your permission to allow it to make calls – but this is at the time of installation. End users usually allow this. What the program does not state is that the calls will be automatically made!"



That was my initial story. I have checked the application and saw the license agreement which has an interesting clause.

Here it is
"B)Access fee:Users get unlimited access to the 3g6.se and is billed subsequently per entry. The access is billed by calls made to an international destination. The application will try to call destinations which is the most inexpensive for the subscriber (based on the subscribers country of residence), but are not in any matter obligated to do so. You agree to let the application make these calls to pay for access fee when due according to these billing terms. Total call duration for unlimited access may vary from 10 minutes to four hundred minutes per entry, depending on the subscribers country of origin and available international destination


I reiterate that this is not a Virus but a program which has a malware tendency... No reason to be worried.. But if you install this inadvertently, it might hit you real bad.. So please do take care. Additionally, it sounds like the software works differently in different phones. On mine, it made 13 international calls. On some others it may do something else. I am not sure because I have tested it only on my phone.


Also, there seems to be a confusion regarding the type of file this is.. I downloaded this to check what the file type is and see that it is a sis file.. some others say it is a .jar file. I doubt if the site detects the phone browser and offers the appropriate version for the kind of phone you are using.. More on this when I get further information...

Friday, February 29, 2008

Time to flog the old Horse.

Lord, its been quite while since I have been here. The reason for the delay? Trivial. I forgot my password.. then I reset it.. then guess what? I forgot it again and then again. Then came Google. They decided to take over this place.. (I hate expansionists). What next?? The Google Coffee Maker? I am sure they're planning to take over Barista as well.. all Barista cofee mugs will show your currently online Gtalk friends who are also in an erstwhile Barista outlet.


wOOt!!

It's been over an year since I last posted. This might sound a tad similar to one of my first posts here.. much water has passed under the bridge. Let me summarize on what kept me busy over the past year.


1. Whiz gets himself a laptop.. (Old news.. especially since the lappy is already outdated)
2. Whiz finds the love of his life.. (That's a lil' secret)
3. Whiz works for Dell.
4. Whiz is still trying to figure out all the buttons on the WK 3700.

5. Casio launched the WK 8800!! !@#$%^&*.
6. Iphone launched and I hated it I used it and I hated it even more.
7. Upgraded to Symbian OS 9.1 (If that was greek for you, you don't deserve to be here)
8. Whiz starts going to the Gym!! (Wannabe Ronnie Coleman)
9. Whiz bids adieu to his moustache.
10.Whiz is on the verge of buying a home theatre for him.

Consider this an introductory post.. I ain't removing the old ones just because those were my initial attempts at blogging.. I am thinking of taking this up seriously and since they have this mobile blogging thing.. will be keeping this regularly updated. (I'd like to see a fan following. Who doesn't???)

I think.. I am all done.. will start tech articles and stuff now. Thats my domain!!

Take care all!

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Nokias new foray into the Music World

Albeit being a Nokia user for quite some time now, I have never liked the design of phones churned out by the Worlds largest mobile phone maker!

Nokia seems to be in a mood to "etch" these sentiments in my mind forever by their latest gimmick.. Nokia today announced the launch of three "Music Oriented" phones - the 5300 XpressMusic, Nokia 3250 XpressMusic and Nokia 5200 XpressMusic.. The Xpress lingo obviously derived from the "funky" removable snap on cover thingy...

The 5300 and 5200 are series 40 devices..5300 being the flagship model. This time interestingly, Nokia has chosen to opt for the micro SD platform for memory expandability instead of the usual RS-MMC, although we have seen Micro SD implementation in a few S60 devices in the past..

The 5300 supports up to 2GB of memory and has dedicated music buttons. (Which music phones doesn't have those??) According to Nokia, this is good enough for 1500 of your tracks rotting away in your pc to be transferred! lol. Nokia has also provided a 3.5 mm jack (Thank God!) this time.

The other model launched was a spiced up 3250.... will talk about that phone in my future posts... gotta hit the sack right now!

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Peeping tom!

Hello folks!

Back in here after quite a while.

I have now decided that this blog of mine will be regularly updated. (Once a week).
I currently have a very hectic schedule.

My day begins at 4:35 a.m in the morning. Have to leave by the 5:40 a.m train to Mumbai to make it to the 8:00 a.m shift.

I should ideally leave office by 5:00 -5:15, which would have been nice...but unfortunately it doesnt happen most of the time. Meetings and deadlines ensure that my stay at the office is lengthened by a couple of hours...

I usually leave office by 6:15..6:30 to reach home by around 9:30....only 7 hours to go before my next day begins...

Sunday, August 6, 2006

Lifes busy...

Its been quite a while since the last post here...

Some changes in my work profile can be blamed for this! Was shifted to another department at office which asked for another shift. This shif t makes sure that i cannot commute back home to palghar where m pc is...

Only able to use my pc on weekends these days...

Lots of things to say...
Lets start with the keyboard...the Casio!

The thing is working perfectly fine but again, no time thses days!

I will be here tomorrow (Sunday

Right mow cant think of anything worth writing here!