SMS Killer

Classification

Category :

Other

Type :

Other

Aliases :

SMS Killer

Summary

There are no known viruses using the SMS (Short Message System) under GSM cellular phones. However, several techniques of crashing a phone by sending a malformed SMS text message to it have been found over the years.

Removal

Based on the settings of your F-Secure security product, it will either move the file to the quarantine where it cannot spread or cause harm, or remove it.

A False Positive is when a file is incorrectly detected as harmful, usually because its code or behavior resembles known harmful programs. A False Positive will usually be fixed in a subsequent database update without any action needed on your part. If you wish, you may also:

  • Check for the latest database updates

    First check if your F-Secure security program is using the latest updates, then try scanning the file again.

  • Submit a sample

    After checking, if you still believe the file is incorrectly detected, you can submit a sample of it for re-analysis.

    Note: If the file was moved to quarantine, you need to collect the file from quarantine before you can submit it.

  • Exclude a file from further scanning

    If you are certain that the file is safe and want to continue using it, you can exclude it from further scanning by the F-Secure security product.

    Note: You need administrative rights to change the settings.

Technical Details

None of the known methods of crashing a phone like this this work universally: they typically only affect a single GSM handset software version from one GSM vendor. As there are hundreds of different GSM handsets from several vendors with the built-in software frequently updated, it would be impossible to come up with a technique that could affect more than just a handful of existing phone models.

Thus, a risk of generic 'SMS Killer' is minimal.

Known techniques of crashing GSM handsets via SMS messages include sending a message with 160 '.' or '-' characters in a row to a recipient with an old-style GSM handset, or by sending SMS messages with a malformed User Data Header, as outlined by ITSX researcher Job de Haas.