Hacker 'implements' the backdoor onto Symbian firmware

Atul Alex, an Indian hacker recently added a backdoor to the firmware of smartphones running Symbian S60.

By editing version 5 - works on devices such as Nokia 5800, Nokia X6, Nokia 5530M, Sony Ericsson Satio and Sony Ericsson Vivaz, he has integrated a backdoor onto Symbian firmware, including support for Perl codes .

A smartphone with this backdoor can be remotely controlled, including a camera. Alex writes this backdoor in Python. He plans to provide this firmware for free for everyone to download.

To install or modify the operating system, the attacker will first take a few minutes to connect the smartphone to the computer, via a USB cable. After installation, the backdoor will contact the hacker via a wireless connection and provide the device's current hacker with the ip. The shell will listen at port 5530, with some functions like netcat, mkdir and wget. In addition, it also supports installing other additional applications.

In addition, the backdoor includes options such as reading mail, taking contact lists, and messages from memory, taking screenshots as well as taking photos from the camera and recording voice calls. Stolen data will be transmitted via GPRS / UMTS or WLAN waves to hacker machines.

Alex also said, he developed a technology that allows hidden backdoor processes. He also said the backdoor will work at the system level, so it won't be possible to turn off the process. The only way to remove this backdoor is to override the standard Symbian firmware.