Viruses/Worms News

RIM issues interim patches for BlackBerry PDF bugs

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Research in Motion (RIM), the maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, has issued a security warning to business users of a PDF vulnerability that could be exploited by hackers.

Last week, RIM issued interim security updates for multiple vulnerabilities in the PDF distiller of some versions of the BlackBerry Attachment Service that could allow a hacker to remotely execute code on the computer that hosts the software, if a user opens malicious PDF email attachments.

RIM said business IT security pros should remove the PDF file extension from the list of supported file format extensions until the security patches are implemented. It also advised users to only open attachments from trusted sources.

The company said businesses could prevent the spread of malicious PDF files by installing the attachment service on a remote computer with its own remote network.

Security experts said hackers have repeatedly targeted PDF vulnerabilities to deliver malicious code to business users because the file format is so broadly used in the corporate setting.

Although mobile malware has been on the rise, RIM said its BlackBerry Enterprise Solution is the first wireless platform to earn Common Criteria EAL 4+ certification.
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