In today’s day and age, mobile operating systems are becoming as complex and as useful as computer operating systems. But with additional benefits comes additional problems. Phones nowadays are as susceptible to malicious software as their larger counterparts. Recently, exploits were discovered in iOS and Android, now one more to add to the list- webOS. The security experts at SecTheory have discovered a handful of flaws in Palm’s webOS. With JavaScript technology closer to the webOS’ core, the operating system is already more vulnerable by nature. Some of the flaws discovered include- a data field in the Contacts app that can be exploited to run commands, a cross-site scripting problem, some sort of floating-point overflow issue, and a denial-of-service vector; basically problems that can crash the operating system or let other people gain access of the phone. Most of the flaws have been fixed by webOS 2.0, but users of webOS will still have to wait for patches from Palm or upgrade the OS itself. With smartphones facing the same kinds of problems as computers, it’s only a matter of time before anti-virus and security software becomes commonplace on the phone. Expect various headaches from these kinds of problems in the future if you aren’t prepared. Do you ever wish that the mobile phones did nothing but make calls again?
