Over the Christmas period it was discovered that Nokia S60 phones can be affected by a nasty little exploit that stops the device from receiving SMS and MMS messages.

Theatrically dubbed "The Curse of Silence", the exploit is triggered when a device running S60 2.6, 2.8, 3.0 or 3.1 is sent a specially formatted SMS containing an email address more than 32 characters long. The phone won't display this message, but if it's running 2.6 or 3.0 it will not be able to receive any SMS or MMS messages. Phones running 2.8 or 3.1 will not lock up until they've received eleven of these specially formatted messages - although as you can't see the messages you won't even know if you're being targetted.

You can read a full rundown of the exploit and how it works here.

Currently the only way to fix your phone after it's been hit by the curse is to perform a full factory reset, although Nokia is aware of the problem and according to Darla Mack is talking to providers in order to get some form of message filtering in place. This'll block any SMS containing a 32 character-plus email address, and thus put a stop to the spread of the exploit, but apparently Nokia is also looking at other solutions, including a possible firmware update.

(Via Darla Mack)