At a recent cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas, Charlie Miller of Independent Security Evaluators demonstrated how a hacker could take control of an Apple (AAPL) iPhone by sending a series of text messages containing a single character. But, innocuous as they may seem, these messages contain code for a file that embeds itself in the iPhone’s memory.

The London Telegraph writes:

“Unless the iPhone is switched off immediately on receipt of these messages, the hacker would be able to assume control of some of the iPhone's key functions, including dialing numbers, surfing the web and sending texts. They could even gain control of the camera and microphone on the device. That could enable hackers to access sensitive personal data, or commit identity fraud.”

"Someone could pretty quickly take over every iPhone in the world," Charlie Miller said. "It's scary."

And he’s right. I, for one, can’t remember the last time I sent a letter. E-mail has changed the way I -- and countless others -- communicate. But the iPhone -- and to a larger extent, at least in terms of raw numbers, the BlackBerry -- have changed the way people interact with the world.

A lot of people.

Research in Motion (RIMM), the Canadian company behind the ubiquitous BlackBerry, says it added 3.8 million net new BlackBerry subscribers last quarter -- up 65% from last year -- for a total of 28.5 million users.

That’s just under 4 times the entire population of all 5 boroughs of New York City. About 3 times the population of Los Angeles. And 10 times the population of Chicago.

I don’t use a BlackBerry. I get my chain-letter jokes at the office. So, I was blissfully unaffected during the last BlackBerry outage this past April.

Seven Addictions to Replace Your Hacked iPhone -- VIEW HERE


Matt Law, writing in the Computer Technology Review, says:

“Not only does an email interruption affect society’s obsession with the technology, it has a profound impact on businesses, which is often only noticeable when systems fail and emails are no longer accessible. Employees are suddenly caught in a black hole and operations halt while hours or even days are spent trying to recover valuable communications and data.”

Experts say “it's not difficult to see how the very nature of RIM's network could potentially lead to a major service outage. RIM's service is centralized and it works by routing all BlackBerry e-mails through one of 2 main NOCs, which are essentially large data centers.

“One NOC is located in Canada and it primarily services the Western Hemisphere as well as parts of Asia, said analysts familiar with the company. The other data center, located in the UK, handles e-mail traffic in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.”