Battle over Blackberry spyware threat
Spy tool for popular device claims to be legitimate.
The expansion of the FlexiSpy mobile device snooping software, originally available only for the
Symbian platform but with versions for both Windows Mobile and Blackberry released in May,
has caused a war of words between the software maker and security vendor F-Secure.
While the maker, Vervata, claims its product has numerous legitimate uses and can only be installed by
deliberate human interaction on the specific device, many mobile security products are detecting the tool as
spyware, thanks to its ability to steal phone data and forward SMS messages and even voice conversations to third
parties.
F-Secure initially blogged
about the product in May last year, dubbing it the 'first Trojan Spy for Symbian phones'. A ZDnet article
(here)
reported some adverse reactions to the Blackberry version, including commentary from an F-Secure
spokesperson. With many firms including F-Secure detecting the product as malware, its maker has issued
several highly passionate press releases attacking F-Secure
here and
here, which go as far as describing F-Secure's
own product as malware.
04 July 2007
Tags:
blackberry, mobile, spyware.
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