Security experts say they have detected the first mobile phone virus that replicates via Multimedia Message Service (MMS) and Bluetooth could spread around the world in a matter of minutes.
The malicious code, dubbed CommWarrior, moves through the Symbian Series 60 smartphone operating system and can spread via multimedia messages that include an image, audio or video, according to security firm F-Secure, which added the code can be sent from one phone to another or to e-mail.
“Phone viruses so far have been spreading over Bluetooth, so they only affect phones that are within a few meters. An MMS virus can potentially go global in minutes, just like an e-mail worm,” F-Secure’s antivirus laboratory warned on its Web site.
F-Secure is currently analyzing CommWarrior, which it believes originated in
Russia, because it contains Russian text that roughly translates into “No to
braindeads.”
The Symbian OS can be found in some phones made by Nokia, Siemens, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Panasonic. F-Secure estimates 20 million cell phones use Symbian.
Symbian OS has been hit several times by viruses, most recently Cabir, which was not capable of spreading at such a fast rate.
Adapted from Internetnews.com.
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