PyCosmos 0.4.0

PyCosmos is a Python script for sending SMS using MyCosmos.

PyCosmos is a script that allows the user to send SMS using the MyCosmos portal of COSMOTE in Greece.

It comes in command-line and GTK versions and it is cross-platform (tested on Windows and Linux). It uses httplib2. The included Win32 binaries require the GTK runtime.

The MyCosmos portal uses the MS Outlook Web Access web application, which is rather IE-oriented. Moreover, it uses a bunch of JScripts that runs locally on browser and initially (until a few weeks ago) the SMS option was not accessible directly in other (i.e. Firefox) browsers.

In an effort to create an automated script that would allow a MyCosmos user to bypass all this bloat and easily send a SMS, I found out that the authentication system having been used to allow sending of SMS through MyCosmos portal did not use the Session Cookie but a "SecureHash" calculated by the mobile number, a salt string and the current year. This is no reverse engineering; the whole code was open and executed in Internet Explorer browser through vw_navbar.js.

Therefore, it was possible to send an SMS by just providing a COSMOTE mobile number that has activated the MyCosmos portal. :) Most users were already aware of such a security bypass, by bookmarking the SMS sending webpage in order to use it in Firefox.

Recently, COSMOTE changed the authentication system (just before the initial release of PyCosmos 0.31), taking under consideration the Session cookie. PyCosmos 0.4 was born, taking under consideration the new authentication system of MyCosmos portal, and now requiring username and password to work. Nevertheless, it seems that some software engineers back in MyCosmos really loved the old (no-)authentication system, and still love it, so PyCosmos 0.31 is dedicated to them.