Malicious PDFs leave BlackBerrys vulnerable

BlackBerry servers could be left vulnerable to hacking, according to an advisory statement on RIM's website.

The document said that there are several vulnerabilities in the system. "These vulnerabilities could enable a malicious individual to send an email message containing a specially crafted PDF file, which when opened for viewing on a BlackBerry smartphone, could cause memory corruption and possibly lead to arbitrary code execution on the computer that hosts the BlackBerry Attachment Service."

It currently affects BlackBerry Enterprise Server versions 4.1x and 5.0, as well as Blackberry Professional Software. RIM has released interim security updates via the website until the problem is fully fixed, but has warned its users to avoid processing PDF files in the meantime.

It also reminded its customers: "As a mobile device best practice, Research In Motion (RIM) recommends that BlackBerry smartphone users open attachments from trusted sources only."

Yesterday Kapersky launched its new mobile security 8.0 due to the rise of people using their mobile phones like computers.

Jennifer Scott is a former freelance journalist and currently political reporter for Sky News. She has a varied writing history, having started her career at Dennis Publishing, working in various roles across its business technology titles, including ITPro. Jennifer has specialised in a number of areas over the years and has produced a wealth of content for ITPro, focusing largely on data storage, networking, cloud computing, and telecommunications.

Most recently Jennifer has turned her skills to the political sphere and broadcast journalism, where she has worked for the BBC as a political reporter, before moving to Sky News.