Binary SMS – The old backdoor to your new thing

SMS is a weak link in a handset’s security. With it you can interact, remotely, with an application on someone’s phone when the phone is not connected to the internet: Despite being older than many of its users, Short Messaging Service (SMS) remains a very popular communications medium and is increasingly found on remote sensors, critical infrastructure and vehicles due to an abundance of cellular coverage.

To phone users, SMS means a basic 160 character text message. To carriers and developers it offers a much more powerful range of options, with sizes up to a theoretical maximum of 35KB and a myriad of binary payloads detailed within the GSM 03.40 specification.

Source: contextis.com