more powerful and flexible in design than ever before. Windows Phone 8 isn’t perfect though, as it seems that the first piece of malware for the mobile OS is about to surface. Young Indian hacker, Shantanu Gawde says he will be showing a malware prototype at the MalCon Security Conference on November 23rd and 24th. His presentation shows how to execute malware that will allow stealing of contacts, upload pictures and steal private data, allow access to text message and more. Not much is known about the malware that will be shown by Gawde. It is possible that it exploits an OS vulnerability or it could be a malicious mobile app that “sneaks” its way onto the platform and causes chaos. So what is Microsoft’s part in all of this? They don’t know much about it yet:
Microsoft is aware of the upcoming presentation but further details have not been shared with us. As always, we will investigate any issues disclosed in the talk, and will take appropriate action to helpprotect our customers.We really can’t say how serious this exploit is until it is officially unveiled by the sixteen-year-old hacker, Shantanu Gawde. If it is an application, I wouldn’t be too worried, though. Microsoft is pretty good about screening apps. If its a code exploit though, it could be a bit more serious. Honestly, either way, Microsoft will be all over this. Once you have Microsoft’s attention (which it seems Gawde has) than it generally is only a matter of a day or less after the reveal before Microsoft finds a way to patch the problem for good. You still have to give Gawde a lot of credit to be able to pull something like this off at such a young age. Apparently he even managed to become a Microsoft Certification Application Developer as just seven. What do you think of the revelation of the first malware for Windows Phone 8? Are you surprised, or is this really not a big deal at all? I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it, what about you? [ source ]]]>
