Android respawn horror: Hacker says hackers' phones hacked

Defcon visitors see handsets being scoped

Evaluating the cost of a DDoS attack



The symptoms of infection include "3G/4G* signal anomalies", "Android [device] at full charged plugged in, but dropping to <50% charge once unplugged", "Android services that immediately respawn when killed" and "a hard freeze, and then take[ing] a long time to reboot".




Handsets are supposed to display such a change of status to the user, but they don't.


In most cases such updates will require user permission to install, and will need to be signed or present additional dialogs, but users will generally agree to anything they're presented with. The Defcon attendees might be more cautious, but the technique should be expected elsewhere.


Our man on the ground, Dan Goodin, didn't see any himself, but as handsets automatically connect to the nearest base station with the right operator code there's no obvious notification and little to stop calls and data being intercepted.



Which is rather the point: we've already seen network intercept equipment coming down in price, and suggestions that mobile networks are about as secure as Wi-Fi, so it's not surprising that Defcon saw a lot of people trying out this new vector of attack. Whether they managed to insert malicious code into nearly every device they saw, as coderman claims, is more open to question, but mobile OS vendors need to be aware that they can't rely on the network to protect them anymore. ®

* The United States calls HSPA "4G"; there's no suggestion of LTE networks being attacked.

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