The malicious code clears the contacts, junk messages fill up the memory, the "uninvited guests" Unwillingness to penetrate ... is what cellphone users have been warned so long. Is the phone virus really a terrible risk as people still think?
According to experts on security and security, mobile phone will certainly be the destination of the catastrophe of the above. Fighting against the virus will be as difficult and dangerous as stopping the spread of smallpox. However, the current situation is not to be frightened by the fact that everything is still in the laboratory. "We have not received any response from phone users about the virus being harassed," said Graham Cluley, technical consultant at Sophos Security. "The only thing we ever knew was that the researchers exchanged viruses with each other, in the lab."
However, many companies still take the motto & quot; cumbersome & quot ;. NTT DoCoMo, the leading maker of mobile phones in Japan, is poised to sell McAfee's antivirus software. McAfee itself expects similar products to appear on the European and US markets in 2005.
At least five types of viruses that have been on the way to mobile phones have been discovered this year and all of them are in the process of being tested and tested.
"Regardless of the names such as Cabir or Skulls, cell phone viruses created in the lab can not be as destructive as their fellow humans attacking computer systems," Cluley said.
In order to function, Skulls must be downloaded and activated. They then proceeded to disable some applications on the user's phone, replacing skull-shaped icons.
Earlier this year, Kaspersky Lab's Russian software company said the Cabir worm could affect Bluetooth-enabled phones running the Symbian operating system. According to the company, the virus can easily replicate itself and infect another phone like sending a file every time the Bluetooth feature is turned on. Like the Skulls and other viruses, Cabir must be installed by the user before anything can be done. When it succeeded, the virus created some files on the phone and sent it to other machines via Bluetooth. Even if it stays in place on the user's computer, TrendMicro antivirus also places it at a low risk, easily removed from memory when detected.
In Lebanon, a strange e-mail appeared and was sent to many machines, warning that a virus would strike through the victim's call. This email is: & quot; If you receive a phone call and your phone displays "Unavailable" on the screen, do not answer the call. End call immediately !!! Because if you answer the call, your phone will be infected by this virus & quot ;. (If you receive a call that displays the word "not ready", do not answer the call.) Disconnect the call immediately, because if you answer, your phone will be infected. this virus). However, that could be just another evil joke. Mikko Hypponen, director of research for F-Secure (Finland), said that the virus can not be spread by this route.
But one thing to note is that mobile phones are installing operating systems and application programs to turn them into mini computers, giving the virus a chance to attack. Let's take an example: Microsoft's Excel application on the phone for example. "The software can be sent to a phone or PDA from a computer via e-mail, which opens the way for viruses," said Brian Petersen, managing director of software vendor Virus 112. based in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Many other risks come from Bluetooth, allowing people to connect the phone to send and receive mail similar to the Outlook program. The wireless interaction between the phone and the phone, the phone with the printer ... always potentially risk the virus to use to penetrate.
"Before, many people used Bluetooth to test bluejacking by sending messages to each other within a few meters. For those who do not know about bluejacking, such messages can be a big shock, "Cluley said. "Unidentified messages can make you believe that you are a victim of a new virus or are receiving spam."
Hypponen experts say that virus writers can exploit the victim's device for unknown purposes, such as sending messages or ringing the bell when you are sleeping.
With the news this year, organizations monitoring computer viruses in the world have begun to take into account the risk of cellphone attacks, but there have been no incidents of damage.
