Mobile Phones & Ringtones

Cell Phone Viruses on the Rise

January 19th, 2005

Then there were reports of potential damaging effects of cell phone to DNA, now there are rising reports of cell phone viruses.

Earlier this week there were reports of the first mobile phone virus Cabir, which infects the Symbian operating system that is used in several makes of mobiles, notably the Nokia brand, and propagates through the new bluetooth wireless technology. If the virus succeeds in penetrating the phone, it writes the inscription ‘Caribe’ on the screen and is then activated every time that the phone is turned on. It is able to scan for phones that are also using the Bluetooth technology and is able to send a copy of itself to the first handset that it finds.

A CNET story on 01/10/2005 reported the virus Lasco.A, that spreads both through wireless connections and by attaching itself to files, antivirus company F-Secure said Monday. Until now, malicious cell phone programs have spread using one mechanism or the other. The virus targets the Symbian platform.

Another CNET story on 01/06/2005 reported a new variant of the Skulls Trojan horse that affects Symbian-based cell phones. It’s called Skulls.D.

Entry Filed under: Mobile Phones,Technology