State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan

Mobile devices are increasingly subject to many of the threats that plague personal computers. Now a leading security researcher has presented a new way to detect malware on mobile devices. According to this article, the new approach  can catch even unknown threats and can protect a device without draining its battery or taking up too much processing power.

Researchers have begun to identify ways to protect devices from malicious software. But traditional ways of protecting desktops against threats don’t translate well to smart phones, says Markus Jakobsson, a principal scientist at Xerox PARC and the person behind the new malware detection technology. Read more »

Dealing with spam, unwanted calls and stalkers can be very stressful. Here’s some  information and links which can help you cope with this. While looking at this issue, we researched on the privacy policies of mobile companies operating in Pakistan. Out of 5 mobile network operators, we found 2 privacy policies which were posted online.

• www.telenor.com.pk/privacy/privacy.php
• www.waridtel.com/privacy_policy.php

For your reference you can block the user following the guidelines presented in our prior posts about Call and SMS Blocking, here and here. Unfortunately getting rid of the problem is not always that straightforward. For example, see this TGP discussion in which one member’s number was used – spoofed would be a better choice of word – for sending unwanted SMS.

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In the era where communication panorama is changing fast and furious and have made distances ever shorter this news about the Indian authorities alerting mobile subscribers to avoid calling Pakistan comes as a distress. The Daily Mail gives out the details.

At a time when revolution in telecom is bringing the world together by providing instant communication access over long distances, Indian Government has launched an SMS (Short Massages Service) campaign to discourage its population from making calls to Pakistan.

The information collected by The Daily Mail indicate that since Jan 21, 2010 an SMS is being received on the mobile phones to exercise extra care while calling anyone in Pakistan. Whenever a call is made to Pakistan, the caller receives an SMS; “You just made a call to ISD Code 0092 (Pakistan’s international dialing code). We urge you to exercise caution while calling unknown number and sharing personal details as it can be misused”.

Read more »

The SEVP Commercial, PTCL, Mr. Naveed Saeed in an interview with The Nation has hinted on Life Line service to come in future.

The company has been preparing for offering a bouquet of services in the coming days that it had already launched for corporate consumers so far. The bouquet that would be called the ‘Life Line’ would include security, entertainment, infotainment, and high DSL Internet.

Looks like its time to make IP Cameras popular along with IPTV and DSL.

I came across this article from CNET on frequently asked questions about smartphone safety and thought that I’d share it with readers. Never a bad idea to remind ourself about safety of data and apps. Here’s the basic checklist:

1. Do you have data on your phone backed up in case you lose it?
2. Is there business or personal information (such as accounts or passwords in messages) which is easily accessible to someone who gets hold of your phone?
3. Are you aware of the applications installed on your phone: commerce related apps, social networking apps
4. Be careful about the usual phishing and other social-engineering scams – with so much browsing on the phone, it is more likely these days to follow a bad link and give away your password by mistake
5. Beware of sending sensitive info over unencrypted WiFi

Read the article after the break.

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The 668 Sim Information campaign is playing a  vital role in withdrawal of unauthorized registered SIMs. PTA have taken it a step forward, now it is also available on mobile via SMS. Users who wish to check on the SIMs registered against their CNIC can now send their CNIC number (without dash/space) t0 668 and get a prompt reply with details of name of service provider and number of SIMs.

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As smartphones become more like portable computers, scammers, phishers and other cybcer criminals have stepped up their attacks on smartphones. Here are a few excerpts from an article which provides tips on securing your smartphone.

Security experts have long warned of the vulnerability of smart phones to hackers. And in the past year the threat has been highlighted by an attack on the Symbian operating system, used mainly by Nokia Corp. phones, and a demonstration at a conference of a flaw that was found in the iPhone’s security.

As the software for smart phones becomes more sophisticated and open, they become better breeding grounds for a new generation of spyware and viruses. Hackers can work their way into your phone through text messages, steal your information and use your contact list to find more victims. Scammers can now dupe you into revealing your Social Security number or credit-card account number on your phone, just like they’ve been doing for years on PCs.

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The recent war to crush terrorism has cost us a lot at all levels. Business Recorder quotes a Rs 329.88 million loss in telecom sector during the NWFP/Fata war on terrorism.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has suffered a loss of Rs 329.88 million in NWFP and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) during the current war on terrorism, as on October 30, 2009. In a written reply, the Minister In-charge of the Cabinet Division informed the National Assembly here on Thursday that total amount of loss suffered by telecommunication networks in NWFP/FATA during the war on terrorism stood at Rs 329.88 million.

During the war 127 buildings/establishments, 51 towers and 87 PTCL Exchanges were completely or partially damaged. The operators have successfully restored the network in Districts Swat, Bannu, Mingora and Malakand Division etc.

At present the network in Districts Dir, DI Khan, Bajour Agency, Peshawar, Bannu, Kurram Agency is being restored by the respective operators. At other areas/locations like, South Waziristan, Orakzai Agency and Khyber Agency, the operators shall undertake the restoration and rehabilitation of their network when the law and order situation improves, he added.

Have the ID card number? Find the count (how many) of SIMs have been issued for that ID and the corresponding mobile provider. This is courtesy of a new online utility by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). This Subscriber Identity Module information system was created to address associated risks on security and to ensure subscription regulations in cellular sector. I tested against my NICOP and it gave me the correct result. Try yours today!

More from PTA site:

Every mobile user can know number of SIMs issued against his CNIC with the mobile company name by sending his CNIC number without dashes and spaces to 668 through SMS. Rs.2/- will be charged on each SMS which is inclusive of all taxes. In case of unauthorized numbers against his CNIC number, a consumer can get the data corrected from the concerned mobile operator’s Customer Services Center. The unauthorized SIM owners will be advised to register the SIM in their names within seven days of notification from concerned Customer Services Center otherwise their calling facility will be stopped after thirteen days and the SIM will be completely blocked after seventeen days of that notice. This service will help in further streamlining the data of mobile phone users.

I thought it would be interesting to present information about secure SMS. What is it and why do you need it? There are times when higher grade of security and trust is needed from a sms-based communication. Examples include transmission of sensitive and confidential information from handset-to-handset, server-to-handset or vice versa. Usage scenarios range from financial transactions, healthcare and government and defense agencies. Most of the content here is via CellTrust website, a vendor of secure SMS solution.

Here are some of the potential problems with standard SMS.

• Standard SMS can be intercepted along the transmission path at multiple locations (aggregators, carriers, infrastructure providers, or tower operators) especially when using Internet to submit your messages. The content is transmitted as a plain text making it easy to eavesdrop.
• Depending on the carrier, messages larger than 160 characters (varies per carrier) are rejected, truncated or broken down into multiple messages that may be delivered out of sequence.
• Standard SMS is typically assumed delivered as soon as the carrier submits the message over their network without having any confirmed response from the recipient’s mobile handset. Hence, there is no definitive way to determine if a message was received by the recipient or whether it was opened or just simply deleted. Standard SMS does not provide timing around any of these events.

So what is Secure SMS?

SecureSMS is a secure text messaging solution for enterprises, governments and consumers for transmitting sensitive and confidential information from handset-to-handset, server-to-handset or vice versa.

Using SecureSMS state-of-the-art mobile Micro Client, mobile phones utilize the familiar and user-friendly SMS channel to send and receive healthcare information, financial data or internal communication from others within their Circle of Trust™.

Read more »

Have a great idea and the credentials to get it done but need resources or partnership with a large organization? Here’s an offer which may help. As part of a program called TechQuest, Alcatel-Lucent is seeking applications from wireless / mobile technology experts for applications in the areas of public safety, entertainment, eHealthcare and eLearning. This program, TechQuest, is a match maker between companies and innovators. This program is managed by an organization called MTBC in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. It is a good model for telecom companies to attract expert innovators and researchers. Here’s how the program works:

Through TechQuest, small tech companies, university researchers, and industry technologists, the Innovation Providers, have an opportunity to present their technology-based ideas and business plans to a major company, an Innovation Seeker, from the Dallas/Ft.Worth area. Those connections may result in technology licensing, funding, a customer/supplier relationship or a strategic partnership.

Here’s the information about this TechQuest program from Alcatel-Lucent. More information about the process and other TechQuest programs is provided at the MTBC site. Note that the Innovation Providers don’t have to be from Dallas area.

Problem Statement
The bandwidth of mobile uplinks and downlinks as well as data latency parameters promise to be much improved over currently available 3G services with the advent of LTE and 4G wireless broadband technologies. Alcatel-Lucent is seeking applications and services that will benefit from this improved connectivity especially in these key areas:

• Public Safety
• Media and Entertainment
• eHealthcare
• eLearning

Background Information:
Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Fourth Generation wireless networks (4G) will provide much higher data rates for mobile devices and applications than existing solutions. The LTE specification is defined and telecommunications equipment vendors are already executing contracts with carriers to deploy LTE gear. The definition of 4G is a bit more nebulous as standards are still being defined; however 4G has objectives of 100Mbits/s bandwidth between any two points in the world (although much higher rates have been lab tested) and support of IPv6.

More information on LTE specifications can be found at www.3gpp.org/article/lte.

PTA has been actively going after grey telephony companies. At the same time it has launched a public relations campaign aimed at educating public about how grey calling hurts the country. They have also made it easy for people to provide tips about possible grey calling setups.