Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications
    • Cloud
    • Cybersecurity
    • Mobile

    Apple iOS SMS Issue Enables Sender Identity Spoofing

    By
    Brian Prince
    -
    August 20, 2012
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      The ability to spoof the reply-to information on Apple iOS SMS messages is a reminder that such messages should not be considered any more secure than email when it comes to authenticating senders, experts say.

      A scheme for spoofing the information was disclosed Aug. 17 on a blog dedicated to research on Apple iOS security. The issue allows attackers to disguise the sender and potentially trick whoever receives the message by modifying the SMS data header. This allows the attacker to include a different reply-to number and possibly impersonate other people or organizations.

      “If you either own a smartphone, or a modem and an account in a SMS gateway, you can send texts in raw PDU format (some services also exist to send a text with an HTTP request in raw PDU format),” blogged researcher Pod2g, who disclosed the flaw last week.

      “In the text payload, a section called UDH (User Data Header) is optional but defines lot(s) of advanced features not all mobiles are compatible with,” the researcher continued. “One of these options enables the user to change the reply address of the text. If the destination mobile is compatible with it and if the receiver tries to answer to the text, he will not respond to the original number, but to the specified one.”

      “In a good implementation of this feature, the receiver would see the original phone number and the reply-to one,” Pod2g blogged. “On iPhone(s), when you see the message, it seems to come from the reply-to number, and you [lose] track of the origin. Why is it an issue? Pirates could send a message that seems to come from the bank of the receiver asking for some private information, or inviting them to go to a dedicated website.”

      In a response to Engadget, Apple said that it takes security “very seriously,” and highlighted the availability of iMessage–which works on the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch running iOS 5 or later and Mac OSX 10.8 (Mountain Lion) or later.

      “When using iMessage instead of SMS, addresses are verified which protects against these kinds of spoofing attacks,” a spokesperson told Engadget. “One of the limitations of SMS is that it allows messages to be sent with spoofed addresses to any phone, so we urge customers to be extremely careful if they’re directed to an unknown website or address over SMS.”

      Michael Sutton, vice president of security research at Zscaler’s ThreatLabz, said the issue was not an iOS vulnerability per se.

      “The iOS application is not uniquely vulnerable due to a coding error, but rather includes and relies on a field that most SMS clients do not–namely the ‘reply to’ field,” he said. “Just as email is easily spoofable as fields indicating the origin of a message are not verified, the same is true of SMS.”

      Spoofing the ‘reply to’ field is trivial, he added, but the damage that can be done is limited.

      “While a user could be tricked into sending an SMS message to a location other than what they intended to, this issue could not be used to compromise the device in any way,” he explained. “It could however be used in a social engineering attack to trick a user into believing that a message came from a particular source. This is no different than receiving a spoofed email message and users should be equally as suspicious of unexpected SMS text as they are of email–the true source in both cases is unverified.”

      Users should not be willing to disclose information over SMS that they expect to be secure, nor should they assume that it is a trustworthy channel for communications with banks or other sensitive service providers, said Derek Halliday, the Lead Security Product Manager at Lookout Mobile Security.

      “SMS should not be considered a secure communication method, it is no more trustworthy than email in this regard,” he said.

      Brian Prince

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      Alteryx’s Suresh Vittal on the Democratization of...

      James Maguire - May 31, 2022 0
      I spoke with Suresh Vittal, Chief Product Officer at Alteryx, about the industry mega-shift toward making data analytics tools accessible to a company’s complete...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×