First Cell Phone Virus on the Prowl

15 Jun, 2004 at 5:05pm ET Article published in Tech

It has been reported that a new virus is out that affects only cell phones and is probably the first known mobile virus. According to the anti-virus firm Kaspersky Labs, the new virus called “Cabir” infects cell phones running the Symbian Operating System. The new virus was written by 29a, a group of virus writers that specializes in proof-of-concept viruses.

The virus spreads thru a wireless Bluetooth connection and attempts to find other phones with the Symbian operating system. The virus poses no real threat to your phone. If the worm infects your phone, it will only display a message “Caribe” to you and nothing else will happen.

Submitted by: Thrax

Source: Overclockersclub

Comments

15 Jun 2004 ~ 6:37pm primesuspect Also submitted by John D. We got a lot of submissions about this one today.
16 Jun 2004 ~ 1:22am Shorty As phones got smarter, so comes the viruses...

/me sighs..

"proof-of-concept viruses".. jeez.. these people need to get out more!

I dumped my symbian phone a while back
16 Jun 2004 ~ 5:23am Necropolis

Shorty wrote:

As phones got smarter, so comes the viruses...

* Shorty sighs..

"proof-of-concept viruses".. jeez.. these people need to get out more!

I dumped my symbian phone a while back

Yep, and ended up getting a worse one in the process
16 Jun 2004 ~ 5:23pm Garg Is the bluetooth always turned on with Symbian phones? Mine is usually off unless I need to transfer a file. Seems like it'd waste the battery if it was always on.
16 Jun 2004 ~ 5:25pm Shorty

Gargoyle wrote:

Is the bluetooth always turned on with Symbian phones? Mine is usually off unless I need to transfer a file. Seems like it'd waste the battery if it was always on.

Nope

Normal behaviour is to leave it set to off or "not visible to unpaired devices".

.. and necro.. yes.. I did trade down.. but my WiFi & Bluetooth IPAQ was too tempting
16 Jun 2004 ~ 6:39pm Jimborae It aint the first (despite reports) & it won't be the last. However the propegation of a virus via bluetooth is pretty ineffecient unless you work in Vodafone's World Wide HQ