Smartphones could, one day be turned into ‘rogue’ devices and used against large wireless networks by hackers, RIM’s security chief warned. Scott Totzke, RIM’s Vice President of BlackBerry security, said hackers could use smartphones as a weapon against wireless carriers using a technique similar to the one used in the US and South Korea that disrupted Internet traffic back in July.

It’s what’s known as a distributed denial of service or a DDOS attack, criminals use phone signals to order thousands of computers to contact the targeted site repeatedly, slowing it down or crashing the site completely. Totzke said this type of attack or a similar one involving data packets could easily be carried out using only a few smartphones.

Malicious software that cause web problems can easily be downloaded in the form of an app said Kevin Mahaffey, chief Technology officer at Flexilis, a mobile security software maker. Flexilis researchers have already found versions of popular apps with hidden viruses. “These are not telephones anymore, Theses are computers, so people are going to have all the problems on their phones that they have on their computers” Mahaffy said.

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