Nokia Provides Free Tool For S60 SMS Bug

We’ve been following up on the SMS Bug –the Curse of Silence that recently invaded Series 60 handsets. Just to recap, the bug, if sent by an attacker, will render messaging from the Nokia device useless.
Initially, one of the quickest ways to eradicate the nasty little virus was with a hard reset of the device which also meant saying goodbye to a lot of personal data. Nokia has however provided a new tool for this scenario that will require users to simply download and install it in their devices. This tool, according to the reports, will take care of the bug if or when your handset is attacked.
This free service tool can be downloaded from here.

S60 Messaging Bug Discovered

Reports are in of a potential 'messaging virus' that could possibly be a major issue for Nokia Series 60 devices. This phenomenon being called The "Curse of Silence," essentially prevents the mobile handsets running versions 2.6, 2.8, 3.0 or 3.1 to stop receiving SMS, MMS and email messages.
According to the same reports this is how the bug works – an SMS that contains up to 32 characters minimum will be received. It will have a space at the end and would be an email address. The protocol identifier will be changed to internet electronic mail before it’s sent. It’s recommended that you regularly sync and back up your data as the only way to unlock the device after receiving The "Curse of Silence," is to hard reset it. For those of you who don’t know how simply type *#7370# from the keypad. Another way to do it is by keeping the green Call key + * + 3 pressed simultaneously till the handset restarts.
Testing has shown that after receiving about 11 messages of this nature handsets that run on versions 2.8 and 3.1 will lock up but still have limited receiving capabilities. Mobiles with visions 2.6 and 3.0 will stop sending after one message.
F-Secure has also verified this bug. Click here for more details.