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By Root 456 0

in telecommunications is not limited to wireless phones. Internet service in South Korea is based on fiber to the home, and runs at speeds exceeding 40Mbps. It's incredibly fast, very inexpensive, and South Korea leads the world in broadband penetration with over 70 percent of homes subscribing. Of course, you can also still use a payphone if you want to. These are located nearly everywhere in quantities far exceeding the U.S. Most take cards, some take coins and cards, and many new phones (yes, I said new payphones - South Korea is still innovating here) allow paying with a T-Money card. T-Money is a prepaid RFID payments card operated by the local transit authority. In addition to payphones, subways, and buses, you can also pay for taxis and even pay for items at many retailers with the T-Money card. Oh, and did I mention the technology platform? The whole system runs on the infamous Mifare Classic RFID platform. Is T-Smart Pay built for easy integration? I don't know, but RFID hackers may find this an interesting question.

And with that, it's time to draw this issue of “The Telecom Informer” to a close. Have a safe summer, and I'll see you at Photosynthesis Festival and Def Con 19!

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Mobile Hacking with Android

by MS3FGX - MS3FGX@gmail.com | 4429 words

If you have been following the mobile industry for the last year or so, you have already heard about Android. Google's mobile Linux operating system has taken the industry by storm, and analysts predict that by the end of 2011, it will have overtaken Apple's iOS as the number two mobile operating system in the world. Some even say that by 2015, it should overtake Nokia's Symbian OS as the number one mobile OS.

The continued success of Android is of particular importance to hackers, as it is more proof that a large scale open source project can not only compete with proprietary software, but excel beyond it if properly supported. Perhaps more importantly, the open nature of Android allows its more technically inclined users to peer into the workings of their mobile devices and modify them however they wish. Finally, the dream of an open mobile device that started with the OpenMoko FreeRunner is very close to realization for the mass market.

Of course, we know that every story has two sides. With increased hardware performance, storage capacity, and software capability, mobile devices have become increasingly tantalizing targets for attackers and criminals over the last few years. But with flexible operating systems like Android under the hood, mobile devices are now becoming practical attack platforms, allowing an attacker to scan for and engage targets from the palm of his hand.

This article will take a look at a few Android applications of interest to both the hacker and the criminal alike, and detail a proof of concept attack using nothing more than a rooted Android mobile phone and publicly available software. The information herein is provided entirely for educational purposes so that the reader may have a better understanding of the capabilities and realistic applications of this technology. It in no way condones or suggests attempting to use these techniques in a malicious manner.

What is Android?

To get a better understanding of what Android is capable of, we should first get a good handle on what it actually is.

In 2005, Google acquired a little known company called "Android, Inc.", which had been developing software for mobile phones. Soon after, Google began filing various patents with a focus on mobile phone technology. This prompted the media to begin speculating that Google was planning on releasing a "G-Phone" to go head-to-head with Apple's immensely popular (and largely unchallenged) iPhone.

But in 2007, rather than announcing a single phone they intended to bring to market, Google brought together a group of some of the most important companies in the mobile industry and created the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), a consortium designed to develop open standards for mobile devices. The OHA revealed that their first product would