Professional handheld devices, particularly Blackberries have recently become a popular target for hackers looking to infiltrate computer systems, which has network consulting professionals looking for new ways to beef up technological security in corporations. A network consulting professional and security expert recently developed a Trojan horse that can get into Blackberry systems.
The Trojan horse, created as a test to prove vulnerabilities within handheld devices is hidden in a tic-tac-toe game that can be easily emailed to any Blackberry device. The malicious program is called BBProxy and was designed by Jesse D-Aguanno of the IT risk management company Praetorian Global and was revealed at the DefCon hacker conference in Las Vegas.
While BBProxy does not attack computer systems itself, the designer stated that network consulting professionals and corporate employees still need to be wary of the potential for programs such as these to eventually morph into viruses that can destroy systems used with handheld devices. Many believe falsely that because of the nature of handheld devices – their size and uses – they cannot harm an internal network. However, even Blackberries run code and are machines that are constantly connected to internal networks and are allowed access to many important files and programs. Most corporations do not limit access of Blackberries, so it can get to everything within a networking system.
While many companies use Blackberry devices as an integral part of their daily lives, many don’t realize how important handheld device security is when working with networking consulting firms. Experts state that companies that are trying to protect a wireless network typically need wireless devices such as Blackberries to have very specific hardware addresses and encryption keys for network access. Still, security measures get more difficult to implement as systems get more sophisticated, and the more technology continues to advance, the more the need to download important patches and updates to software and systems, including the recent Microsoft security patches becomes.
Added By: Computer Consulting 101
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