My 'Mystery File Sharing' Incident
Mikey 9 comments
Here's something you will find interesting. Riding the train home from work this afternoon my phone started yelping at me with a tone I wasn't very familiar with. Pulling the N95 from my pocket and I saw something I didn't expect.
I was being prompted to accept a file over Bluetooth, "Receive message via Bluetooth from Jen?" it said. I looked around to see if I wasn't the only one staring at my phone with a cautious look. Apparently I was.
What the heck. It's only my mobile phone, and I have all the data backed up anyway. What's the worst that could happen? I pulled the file down which took about 30 seconds, and then I realised I had been sent an MP3 by an artist called Katey Perry whom I can only assume by it's cliché vocal styles and banal rhythm is someone on the current Top 40 (is it still called Top 40?).
Anyway, crappy commercial music aside, I wasn't sure if I was sent it in error or if this is something the kids do these days as another form of sharing music. I was tempted to send some QOTSA back but somehow I think my taste in music greatly differs from Jens'.
This could also have just been a complete accident by Jen, perhaps thinking she was sending it to her boyfriend sitting next to her whose phone is also labeled as 'Nokia N95' when doing a Bluetooth scan for nearby phones.
Bluetooth's range can extend beyond 30 metres so Jen could have been in the other train carriage, which I suspect might be the case because I couldn't see anyone obvious fiddling with their phone near me.
If anyone else has been offered a file by a stranger via Bluetooth on your phone I would be interested to hear about it.
Petey R
Friday 15th August 2008 | 05:56 AMI love bluetoothing people, in restaurants, carparks etc...
I had a funny video of Justin (my partner) dancing around in his jocks with my little dog who was dancing as well (to The Supremes "The Happening" - but I am 40!)
I decided to have some fun and scan in Safeway`s carpark. My nokia found heaps of phones and so I sent it out to all the phones (about 15) and 10 people accepted it and then to sit in the 86` commodore and watch all these mum`s start going into hysterics when they had recieved it. Absolute pandemonium! (Justin wasn`t happy, hehe)
Awesome Wells
Friday 15th August 2008 | 06:18 AMIt would make a good experiment to see how may people accept the file over the course of a week. People obviously don't associate viruses with mobile phones.
Jake
Friday 15th August 2008 | 06:49 AMI recieved my new favorite ring tone in the same way, with my N95. I assume it was an accident, who could have known that I would feel such nostalgia once hearing the 'Captain Planet' song?
It's not the first time either, around 250 people work in my laboratory, and every now and then I'll get a naughty picture or funny video or song or callender item etc, I assume by mistake.
Rodney
Friday 15th August 2008 | 09:30 AMMike, you're playing with fire, mate.
What would you have done if you'd just accepted a virus (and how do you know you didn't)? Or just offered control of your phone to someone near by. I personally have seen this done in a security seminar. By offering a free image to people via bluetooth, the guy running the seminar was then able to execute his code on the phone. This allowed him to download the phone's contacts, etc and even make a call from the recipient's phone.
Of course, he did this from a laptop not another phone but I suppose it's possible to do from a phone, too.
...in response to this comment by Rodney. Lucky I run this :-)
http://usa.kaspersky.com/products_services/mobile-security.php
Wufle
Monday 18th August 2008 | 09:53 AM...in response to this comment by Rodney. I think a virus on my phone would be better than that Katey Perry song :P
...in response to this comment by Wufle. Point taken :-)
Andrew
Wednesday 20th August 2008 | 03:56 AMSome girl sent me pictures of her once when on a train...
Mark
Friday 15th August 2008 | 12:31 AMYea, bunch of kids were in my carriage once and my phone beeped... "Gary" found my "Marks Nokia" and wanted to send me a file. I declined because I assumed Gary was one of the kids and seriously doubted he would have anything I'd be interested in. Still, I spent the rest of the ride looking from the corner of my eye to see if any potential Garys were looking for the owner of Mark's Nokia. Even though I didn't get the file and it was probably a kid, the mystery was a good way to kill time :P