Your mom's cellphone has as much power and functionality as all the PCs at my old government job. Thousands of new smartphones are joining the network every month just begging to be made to run indiscernibly slower with just one more root level program. A botnet control scenario is presented in which smartphone bots receive instructions through sms that are processed by a proxy between the GSM modem and the application layer, making the botnet messages transparent to the user. An Android version of the bot will be shown in action, and proof of concept code will be released for multiple platforms.
Georgia Weidman is a member of the GRM n00bs, a group providing training and media for information security beginners. She is a survivor of the collegiate cyber defense competition and a security master's program. Now she specializes in whatever security work she can get, collects certifications, makes videos, takes photographs at inopportune times, and sometimes podcasts.