The explosion of Wi-Fi networks both in businesses and in public hotspots is needlessly exposing businesses and individual users to security risks because proper precautions aren't taken, according to research released Thursday by RSA Security.

The report, which studied wireless networks in major U.S. and European cities, found that more than one-third of businesses with wireless networks are susceptible to intrusion from unwanted sources.

Doomsday scenarios regarding PDA and wireless viruses have been circulating since 2000, when the first PDA-specific virus, Phage 1.0, surfaced. 2001 was to be the year of the wireless virus, according to both IDC and Gartner. Four years later, the soothsayers are back, proclaiming the dangers of these airborne attacks. Should we listen this time?

Last year, two new worms surfaced--skulls.a and cabir.a--that had a far greater impact on the popular psyche than on systems. Cabir.a was clearly devised as a proof of concept. The worm's only danger was that it dramatically reduced battery life for Bluetooth devices. Why were these harmless viruses being trumpeted as signs of a forthcoming mobile Armageddon?

T-Mobile commented on their security. Apparently someone might have knew her account password and gain access to her data. Maybe her PC is hacked?

T-Mobile is investigating the reported disclosure of Paris Hilton's information.

T-Mobile's computer forensics and security team is actively investigating to determine how Ms. Hilton's information was obtained. This includes the possibility that someone had access to one of Ms. Hilton’s devices and/or knew her account password.

Given the sensitivity of the situation, and to protect our customers' information, we are not able to provide specific details of the investigation at this point.

"Cabir" is the name of the first Mobile Phone Virus in the U.S. 8 Months ago, it was first discovered in the Philippines. So far the virus has spread to twelve countries, and could pose as a threat to 1.5 billion cell phone users.  
 Mikko Hypponen, the director of "Finish Anti-Virus" Stated that the main problem occurring from the virus is damage to the battery.

It is thought that the very first transfer of the virus was in an gadget store. Two cell phones in a window were infected by a passer-by. Using Bluetooth to make the transfer, It's possible that other cell phones in the area could have been infected.

Security vendor McAfee, Inc. this week launched an on-line Wi-Fi security scanning service and said that it is developing a standalone WLAN security product that will be released later this year.
 
The company's free online WiFiScan product was launched this week on the company's Web site. It downloads an ActiveX control that scans your wireless network and warns about potential security breaches and describes how to fix them. It can detect, for instance, the presence of an Evil Twin threat, as well as what networks and network-enabled devices are near-by.

Sutter, California, the only grade school in this rural town, is requiring students to wear radio frequency identification badges that can track their every move. Some parents are outraged, fearing it will take away their children's privacy.

The badges introduced at Brittan Elementary School on Jan. 18 rely on the same radio frequency and scanner technology that companies use to track livestock and product inventory. Similar devices have recently been used to monitor youngsters in some parts of Japan.

About 80% of mobile phone users worldwide have received spam, according to a study of consumers and mobile operators released Wednesday. That's bad news for mobile operators because most of the users who have received mobile spam blame the operators, according to the study. More specifically, the study found that users are more likely to change operators than mobile phone numbers to fight mobile spam.

More than half of 2,000 European consumers surveyed in a recent Capgemini study say they had privacy worries about radio-frequency identification tags. European consumers participating in the study by the business and IT consulting firm consider legislation on privacy protection as the key that would make them more likely buy RFID-enabled products.

Other factors survey respondents considered crucial: the ability to disable RFID tags at the store after purchase, a customer opt-in/opt-out choice regarding information collected via the tags, and clear labels that state the tag is RFID-enabled.

’Bluesnarfing’ is the theft of information from a wireless device through a Bluetooth connection. Bluetooth is a high-speed but very short-range wireless technology for exchanging data between desktop and mobile computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and other devices. By exploiting a vulnerability in the way Bluetooth is implemented on a mobile phone, an attacker can access information -- such as the user's calendar, contact list and e-mail and text messages -- without leaving any evidence of the attack.