First Ever Cell Phone Virus Reported
 

Probably a good idea to backup all your contact phone numbers. I'm sure this is only the beginning.


PARIS (AFP) - The first ever computer virus that can infect mobile phones has been discovered, anti-virus software developers said, adding that up until now it has had no harmful effect.

The French unit of the Russian security software developer Kaspersky Labs said that that virus -- called Cabir -- appears to have been developed by an international group specialising in creating viruses which try to show "that no technology is reliable and safe from their attacks".

Cabir 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 that is in several new mobile phones.

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.

According to the anti-virus software developer F-Secure, the discovery of Cabir is proof that the technologies are now available to create viruses for mobile phones and that they are now known to the writers of computer viruses.

Anti-virus experts have been warning for months that mobile phone viruses are set to multiply, given the increasingly diverse uses of mobile phones.

cool

quite amazing

does MacAffee make a virus scan for my nokia:1orglaugh

LOL:1orglaugh

LOL doubt it....

Who wants to buy my firewall software for there phone ;-)

Imagine the spam that can come from this:

I can picture this happening (my grandparents call me for every computer problem and technology question they have)

Grandma "Hello Grandson, I just got a new cell phone, and every time my phone rings it says Bukkake.com on the screen."

give it time someone will come up with something. maby a download patch from mcafee or norton will offer this feature if the problem continues. sounds dumb but who knows..

its a conspiracy brought on by anti virus software makers.

am I the only who thinks that avtivirus labs make viruses themselves to sell their soft then ? :BangBang:

Well! when thing start to be a full open operating system ...that happens! i have a nokia 6600 and just by the fact of installing applications its starting to hang and giving shit when you turno on the phone... task that are not killed, messages that you can no delete... and a large etc....
the best solution
backup your contacts and find the code that reformat your mobile.

Where is smokey? he must be friends with them... :1orglaugh

Is this something that can be removed? Links please! :)

Damn, when you think how many cell phone users there are and not one has virus software yet, you could make an absolute fortune peddling cell phone virus software.

I've often wondered about that possibility.

Do you have that for real?

That would be a smart buisiness decision...but illegal

whaddya say....me and you go in on this together....all it would take me is about 15 million in startup capital:Graucho

within 3 months there are going 2 be a bunch of fucked up cell phone.
Dailing $5.00 per min. porn sites.

:1orglaugh

damn thats kinda neat.

"an international group specialising in creating viruses which try to show "that no technology is reliable and safe from their attacks"....

Isn't this like going around and shooting people and saying "hey, I told you guns weren't safe"?

Sounds like a well coded virus.

I knew this day will come!

That is weird. I am kind of surprised people would waste their time doing that though.

Exactly. The reason there aren't many virus' for Cell Phones and PDA's is because there isn't much use for them, and the market segment is relatively small compared to computers.

Can you turn off BlueTooth on a cell phone? I have BT on my PDA, and it's never on because I never use it.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

lol, that could suck big time

This is not good!

i wonder what it does to your cell phone?

what a joke. bluetooth? lol. i guess the virus will only spread when another bt fone is within, what, 3 feet? :1orglaugh

mobile phone viruses have been here many years already:2 cents:

Word :Graucho :1orglaugh

Another more detailed article . . . .


AMSTERDAM - A group of underground virus writers has showed off what is believed to be the world's first worm that can spread on advanced mobile phones, but security software companies say the virus had no malicious code attached. The worm, named Cabir, was sent to security software firms Kapersky Lab of Russia and U.S.-based Symantec by a member of 29a, a group of virus writers from the Czech Republic and Slovakia who pride themselves in creating "proof of concept malicious viruses," Kapersky Labs spokesman Denis Zenkin said.

"This is the very first version of a network worm which propagates via mobile phones," he said on Wednesday.

The worm is designed to work in smartphones running on Symbian and Series 60 software, Symantec said on its Web site.

This software is used to power millions of Nokia
phones, such as the popular 6600 model.

Nokia was not immediately available to comment.

The worm is not regarded as dangerous because even if it spreads it carries no code that destroys files or executes other damaging operations, the security software firms said. The virus attempts to jump from phone to phone by using the handset's wireless short-range Bluetooth connection. It scans the environment for other Bluetooth-enabled devices.

Once it has found one, it sends itself disguised as a security file. The file must be accepted by the mobile phone owner and then installed before it can propagate.

Mobile viruses will become more dangerous when they can spread without human intervention, said Matias Impivaara, business manager for mobile security services at Finnish security software firm F-Secure.

"The main (turning) point will be when the virus-writing community knows the software well enough... to find holes," he said.

"The information about the (Symbian) operating system is very close to the hands of the virus writers.... (Cabir) could be a trigger to start developing these ideas earlier."

A spokesman at London-based technology firm Symbian said that, unlike personal computers, it was not possible to penetrate the software of its smartphones without approval.

"But we can never say it's not going to be possible. Smartphones have been designed... as open, programmable networked devices," he said, adding that users should be careful before accepting to install new software.

Tech description of the worm:

http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/cabir.shtml

It's pretty lame, imho.

How are you? Back in biz? :)

It's good in a way, this is harmless, but it illustrates the possibilities.. which is an important part of creating solutions further down the road.

A lot of developers, even Symbian/Nokia are lazy or like to cost cut and sacrifice things like -- security, reliability in order to cram a shitload of yesterday's technology into a pocket sized gadget and sell it at a profitable price.

The more we depend on technology, the weaker we become. Like the saying goes.. to err is human.. to completley fuck things up big-time requires a computer.

still out... :) i'm just hanging around... it's hard to kick the habit

Twisted...yeah, this is only the beginning...

That is such a lame excuse for a worm... a) you have to agree to install it, and b) it only works on devices in bluetooth range (so like 50 feet). PLUS, it is a Symbian worm, which are only the higher end devices right now.

BUT, it does make the point. I've developed some Symbian software, and you could really screw some stuff up with it. They give you access to dial the phone, answer it, send text messages, read/write the phone book etc...

How about one that sends text messages to everyone in your contact book telling them to download a new game? (the game being a trojan of course)... or one that repeatedly texts premium rate numbers...

It's going to fuck the operators bigtime pretty soon, and the Microsoft devices are going to be even worse.

Should be fun! :ak47:

Those Nokia 3650 phones that they displayed on aol regarding this virus suck anyway. Its funny how they release all of these products with out actually hiring some good hackers to find a way to get into the phones. They should have the white collar criminals working for them from inside prison