Hacker cracks baseband chip phones to install malware

A researcher from US security firm Accuvant has found a hole in the baseband chips of several phones, which could allow someone pretending to be a telecom provider to install malware on the device.

Security researcher Martin Solnik, who will reveal his findings at the Black Hat security fair in Las Vegas next week, tells The Wall Street Journal that he can in fact crack any vulnerable phone within 30 feet. He uses a small transmission tower for this, which he says can be obtained for less than a thousand dollars – about 750 euros converted.

Solnik is exploiting a security flaw in the baseband chips of multiple modern phones, including several unnamed Android phones, at least one older iPhone, and multiple BlackBerry models. Precise details about the hack are missing, but using the forged cell tower, Solnik managed to push malware onto the device. In doing so, Solnik abuses a protocol that allows providers to send software updates to a smartphone.

Solnik told Reuters news agency that only a handful of experts could mount the attack at the moment. It is unclear whether Google and Apple are working on a solution, although the companies say they are aware of the problem. BlackBerry says it is “working closely” with Solnik.