The Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging standard is used by almost every phone carrier around the globe, which clearly explains its significance for mobile phone users. Now a set of vulnerabilities is threatening the service.
According to security researchers at SRLabs (Security Research Labs), the way phone carriers are implementing the RCS standard is flawed and the vulnerabilities can make users susceptible to all kinds of attacks such as call interception, text message, location exposure, and spoofing of phone numbers, etc.
See: How a man hacked his victims’ SIM cards to steal millions of dollars
This is indeed a concerning situation since large enterprises such as Vodafone are using flawed procedures and technology and are making hundreds of millions of people vulnerable to data exposure, stated SRLabs’, Karsten Nohl.
This standard is believed to be a better substitute for SMS but this research reveals that even the most modern protocols aren’t safe from exploitation if there is even the slightest glitch, making phone network security an issue of concern.
According to Verge, RCS standard is introduced to replace SMS and supports a number of new features that messaging clients like WhatsApp and iMessage offer such as typing indicators flawed implementation standard putting millions
