Smartphones are revolutionizing the workplace in more ways that we realize sometimes. .
As more and more technology is crammed into these modern wonders, they become more versatile, and that versatility can present more directions for risk.
Take, for instance the iPhone and similar high end smartphones. Users love being able to connect to wi-fi networks when they are at home or the office to access secure files and speed up transfers.
But as Robert Graham and David Maynor of the Atlanta-based Errata Security point out, they can be used to find unsecured networks from far outside your corporate campus. (from SecurityInfoWatch)
Basically, they send an iPhone that's rigged with special software and extended power supply to a non-existent employee and let it sniff out connections as it's in the facility.
No huge risk to most capable IT departments. They have become very skilled at securing internal wi-fi networks from outside hackers. But - how many people do you know that have hooked up their own wireless router to the corporate network? It happens more than we like to admit. And the employees that do it tend to mask the router's IP address to look like a system already registered through security.
This is just one example of how an off-the-shelf unit with minimal rigging can turn into a sophisticated snooping device. Think of all the other cool (but damaging) tricks that are out there.
I love my smartphone, but you can bet I'm keeping an eye on how powerful, mobile tools like this can be used by criminal minds. Smartphones have cameras, microphones, GPS, Bluetooth and other useful resources that can be used in many ways.
There have been reports out there of using them for remote spying tools (the cameras and microphones) but I have not seen any very usable versions of of that technique myself. Please let me know if you've seen otherwise.
