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Local News Beware of hackers, spyware Published Date: July 23, 2009 By Hussain Al-Qatari, Staff writer KUWAIT: Following the recent news reports about spyware and Blackberry users in the UAE, an IT-savvy expert cautioned users in Kuwait not to visit suspicious sites or download unauthorized software. The smart phone's security can be penetrated, and users' private information and text messages can fall victim to spyware. Reports this week circulated news about a text message which was sent by UAE Blackberry provider Etisalat to its subscribers advising them to download a patch to improve the performance of their Blackberry handset. Customers reported that the patch has reduced the mobile's battery life, overheated the mobile phones, and some people reported that their phones stopped working completely. Yesterday, Canada's Research In Motion (RIM), the developer of Blackberry released a statement on their website saying that "the Etisalat update is not a RIM-authorized update and was not developed by RIM. Independent sources have concluded that the Etisalat update is not designed to improve performance of your BlackBerry handheld, but rather to send received messages back to a central server. Kuwait Times addressed the question of privacy and users' data security to an IT expert working in one of Kuwait's telecommunication companies. The source who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity cautioned users in Kuwait to be careful when upgrading their phones, and advised an upgrade only through the website of the service provider or the official Blackberry website. We always advise our clients to come to our branches and speak to the IT department when they want to upgrade their mobile phones. A software usually upgrades automatically, but if the phone operating system needs an upgrade this has to be done through the provider," he said elaborating that people who are not tech-savvy should not attempt to upgrade the OS on their own. Many Blackberry users have reported various problems with their smart phones in Kuwait. Mohammad Al-Yaseen,32, said that he received a voice clip from a friend via the Blackberry Messenger, and as soon as he clicked on the link to listen, his phone froze and stopped working. "Ever since, I learnt not to click on any links that look weird to me," he said. Fajir Al-Matrook, 19, said she received a message from a friend telling her about a new release of the Blackberry Messenger. "I tried downloading it, but it stopped halfway through downloading. Hours later my Blackberry Messenger was gone, and two other applications on my phone did not work; when I opened them, the phone rebooted. I had to take it to the agent and have it replaced with another Blackberry. The IT source said that carrying a Blackberry is like carrying a compact computer and computers are prone to being hacked and infected with viruses. That being said, he advises that the handset should not be used to replace a computer. Blackberries should keep you connected on the go, not replace your laptop computer. My advice is to be careful. Smartphones can be penetrated by hackers and spyware easier than you can imagine," the source said. On a final note he cautioned, "If you use your Blackberry to browse suspicious websites then you are risking the safety of the device and the information stored on the device. Be careful, and avoid overloading your device with unnecessary applications.
