3G technology vulnerable to hackers, warns DTI

A senior consultant at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) last week warned that the introduction of third generation (3G) mobile technology will make it easier for hackers to infiltrate corporate networks.

DTI consultant Charles Brookson said that 3G links with the internet would provide a backdoor into companies' systems.

Brookson added that a feature of the 3G service that will allow users to activate an automatic scan of the web for a particular piece of information could be subverted so that the phone automatically connects to an expensive premium rate line without the caller's knowledge.

Neil Barrett, technical director at Information Risk Management, a firm that specialises in testing the computer defences of large organisations, said that the increasing use of PDAs and internet-enabled phones creates a growing security threat for corporate networks.

Commenting on the potential danger of attacks on increasingly distributed networks, he said: "I have to say that it is going to be enormous - mobiles and PDAs are going to provide hackers and virus writers with a whole new population of devices with which to play."

Brookson said that the ability to encrypt messages between phones could also present problems for police trying to monitor criminal activity.

"It's a much more difficult system than GSM from a security point of view," he said.