VALLETA, MALTA – The Malta Communications Authority has proposed new regulations that will require all companies providing telecommunications services in the country to alert subscribers when abnormal charges are billed to their accounts. If adopted, the service will be free and allow consumers to limit their expenditure per phone call.

The MCA said the proposal arose after the agency received “a substantial number” of complaints from consumers who received exorbitant phone bills and denied making expensive calls. Upon investigation, the agency determined the charges most likely were levied by “rogue dialers” installed surreptitiously on users’ computers and incurred by hackers who infiltrate cellular Bluetooth connections.

The dialers disconnect users from their usual internet service provider and reconnect them through a premium dial-up service often associated with pornography, the agency said. It also said most often the dialers are downloaded unintentionally along with software, music or porn distributed via peer-to-peer networks. Malicious software also can be contained in email attachments and pop-up links on websites.

However, according to the MCA, the Bluetooth threat is by far the bigger worry — and not just because hackers can run up bills.

“Mobile hackers can connect to the cell phone, without the knowledge of the owner, and download the addresses and other information one might have on the phone. This technique is called Bluesnarfing,” an MCA spokesperson told MaltaToday.com.

The MCA spokesperson warned users to turn off Bluetooth devices when they are not in use in order to prevent Bluesnarfing, which is illegal and can result in civil penalties if the hacker is caught.