Etisalat bust putting spyware on Blackberry
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Location: Dubai
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Etisalat bust putting spyware on Blackberry
Just for interest..........
Have you installed a special "performance enhancing" patch from Etisalat on your Blackberry..
"Dear Etisalat BlackBerry Customer,
Etisalat is always keen to provide you with the best BlackBerry service and ultimate experience, for that we will be sending you a performance enhancement patch that you need to install on your device. For more information, please call 101 Empower your Business with BlackBerry® and Mobile Solutions from Etisalat"
It turns out this patch is spyware that sends copies of your messages to their server.
Unfortunately for them, the patch has been causing huge battery drainage issues and people started to investigate.
Follow the comments on this blog........
UAE spying on citizens through an Etisalat BlackBerry update? | BlackBerry Cool
Man what a bunch of clowns
Have you installed a special "performance enhancing" patch from Etisalat on your Blackberry..
"Dear Etisalat BlackBerry Customer,
Etisalat is always keen to provide you with the best BlackBerry service and ultimate experience, for that we will be sending you a performance enhancement patch that you need to install on your device. For more information, please call 101 Empower your Business with BlackBerry® and Mobile Solutions from Etisalat"
It turns out this patch is spyware that sends copies of your messages to their server.
Unfortunately for them, the patch has been causing huge battery drainage issues and people started to investigate.
Follow the comments on this blog........
UAE spying on citizens through an Etisalat BlackBerry update? | BlackBerry Cool
Man what a bunch of clowns
Join Date: Mar 2009
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Blackberry Patch
Not only that: It also uses your 3G connection to do this. Revenue was never easier for the company. You simply install your own data-generator.
My suggestion: go to the customer relations desk. ( oops, seems closed for the rest of the year )
My suggestion: go to the customer relations desk. ( oops, seems closed for the rest of the year )
Removal of Spyware Patch
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Found a Solution
Download JL_Cmder JL_Cmder Javaloader Utility
Connect the handheld to your computer by USB
Go to the folder where Javaloader.exe is installed (e.g. C
Program Files\JL_Cmder)Type the following command:
javaloader -u erase -f Registration.cod
Restart your handheld. And you're done. If your handheld is using a password you can type it like this:
javaloader -u -wPasswordHere -f Registration.cod
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On a slightly separate note is Skype now working properly in the UAE? Im moving to AUH soon and really could do with knowing. Thanks
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No HighJacking
Please don't highjack threads off topic; here is the applicable thread found through the "Search" function. 
http://www.pprune.org/middle-east/26...om-issues.html
http://www.pprune.org/middle-east/26...om-issues.html
The Blackberry update has been confirmed as Spyware!
From Gulfnews....
From Gulfnews....
Etisalat's BlackBerry update intercepts communication, says RIM
By Abbas Al Lawati, Staff Reporter
Published: July 21, 2009, 13:32
Dubai: The update issued by etisalat to its BlackBerry subscribers on July 8 is not designed to enhance performance but intercept communications, Research in Motion, BlackBerry's parent company has said.
An update etisalat termed as a "performance enhancing patch" that was issued earlier this month led to excessive battery drainage in BlackBerry phones, which experts attributed to a communications interception software pushed on to subscribers' devices by the operator.
In an eight page "customer update", the Canada based company rejected etisalat's assertion that the update was intended to enhance performance on the BlackBerry network.
Click here to download the Blackberry removal patch
"Etisalat appears to have distributed a telecommunications surveillance application that was designed and developed by SS8… independent sources have concluded that it is possible that the installed software could then enable unauthorized access to private or confidential information stored on the user's smartphone," the statement read.
"RIM confirms that this software is not a patch and it is not a RIM authorized upgrade," it said.
In a statement issued last week Etisalat said that the update was intended to facililitate the "handover between 2G and 3G networks".
RIM said that such third party patches "cannot provide any enhancements to network services as there is no capability for third parties to…make such improvements to the communications between a BlackBerry smartphone and a carrier's (etisalat's) network".
Etisalat has 145,000 BlackBerry subscribers. It has not commented on RIM's statement.
By Abbas Al Lawati, Staff Reporter
Published: July 21, 2009, 13:32
Dubai: The update issued by etisalat to its BlackBerry subscribers on July 8 is not designed to enhance performance but intercept communications, Research in Motion, BlackBerry's parent company has said.
An update etisalat termed as a "performance enhancing patch" that was issued earlier this month led to excessive battery drainage in BlackBerry phones, which experts attributed to a communications interception software pushed on to subscribers' devices by the operator.
In an eight page "customer update", the Canada based company rejected etisalat's assertion that the update was intended to enhance performance on the BlackBerry network.
Click here to download the Blackberry removal patch
"Etisalat appears to have distributed a telecommunications surveillance application that was designed and developed by SS8… independent sources have concluded that it is possible that the installed software could then enable unauthorized access to private or confidential information stored on the user's smartphone," the statement read.
"RIM confirms that this software is not a patch and it is not a RIM authorized upgrade," it said.
In a statement issued last week Etisalat said that the update was intended to facililitate the "handover between 2G and 3G networks".
RIM said that such third party patches "cannot provide any enhancements to network services as there is no capability for third parties to…make such improvements to the communications between a BlackBerry smartphone and a carrier's (etisalat's) network".
Etisalat has 145,000 BlackBerry subscribers. It has not commented on RIM's statement.
Join Date: Jan 2009
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Registration Set up
Hey guys,
I have changed registration set up on my phone,and the draining battery problem is gone for the past 4 days now. Follow these steps:-
1. Options
2. Advance Options
3. Applications
4. Press Menu and choose Modules
5. Scroll down the long list until you reach "REGISTRATION"
6. Press Menu and choose edit permissions.
7. Choose deny for all three choices.
8. The phone will restart and that will be the end of the battery drainer.
Good Luck and Have sweaty summer
Mishkaki
I have changed registration set up on my phone,and the draining battery problem is gone for the past 4 days now. Follow these steps:-
1. Options
2. Advance Options
3. Applications
4. Press Menu and choose Modules
5. Scroll down the long list until you reach "REGISTRATION"
6. Press Menu and choose edit permissions.
7. Choose deny for all three choices.
8. The phone will restart and that will be the end of the battery drainer.
Good Luck and Have sweaty summer
Mishkaki
Join Date: Dec 2004
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RIM Removal Tool
Thanks EGGW,
Definately use the RIM Removal Tool through your Blackberry Desktop Manager application provided at this link:
Removal of Etisalat Surveillance Software patch
Thanks RIM
Definately use the RIM Removal Tool through your Blackberry Desktop Manager application provided at this link:
Removal of Etisalat Surveillance Software patch
Thanks RIM
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Oh great, I hope this isn't going to give the other gulf nations an idea. They can once again re-justify their "intelligence" jobs and spend countless hours blocking useless information.
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Use this from your blackberry
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As in quite a few 'free, Western' countries, Etisalat (or probably more accurately, the Dubai CID) have a program (Echelon?) that can monitor many phone conversations at once (and I assume, emails) and pick up key words (like 'b*mb, Isr*el etc). Once picked up, it latches on to that conversation and tapes it or future conversations on that number.
As I said, this is not peculiar to the UAE. Victorian police (Australia) quite recently prosecuted a man after 'accidentally' stumbling upon telephone converstions between him and his mistress planning to murder his wife, apparently in graphic detail. I think we could safely assume the Vic. police surveillance program automatically latched on to a succession of pre-programmed inappropriate words and alerted the humans to listen in to future conversations. I believe the man received a relatively hefty gaol sentence.
As I said, this is not peculiar to the UAE. Victorian police (Australia) quite recently prosecuted a man after 'accidentally' stumbling upon telephone converstions between him and his mistress planning to murder his wife, apparently in graphic detail. I think we could safely assume the Vic. police surveillance program automatically latched on to a succession of pre-programmed inappropriate words and alerted the humans to listen in to future conversations. I believe the man received a relatively hefty gaol sentence.
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Wiley it's pointless making a comparison to a country like Australia as it's a democratic nation with an interdependent judiciary.
The technology is used to stop legitimate and serious crime. They're not going to bang you up in prison for being critical of the Govt, or for "insulting" the PM.
The technology is used to stop legitimate and serious crime. They're not going to bang you up in prison for being critical of the Govt, or for "insulting" the PM.
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Thanks EGGW,
Definately use the RIM Removal Tool through your Blackberry Desktop Manager application provided at this link:
Removal of Etisalat Surveillance Software patch
Thanks RIM
Definately use the RIM Removal Tool through your Blackberry Desktop Manager application provided at this link:
Removal of Etisalat Surveillance Software patch
Thanks RIM
Even after all my years in the UAE, this is a bit of a shocker to me.
