Shhhhhhh...
Handy-viruses - they're something anti-virus experts don't want to shout about too much. It's not that phone viruses are much more difficult to produce or they would do much more damage than the SoBIGs or the "I love you"s. It's just that if you're an anti-software company with your hundred experts working night and day on combatting new computer viruses, you don't want to have to set up a new department and pay for a new "Head of Phone-Viruses".
Don't hit "OK"!
29a & Cabir
Cabir is the name of the first virus that can be spread handyphone to handyphone; it was written by a group of virus writers called 29a. The worm runs on the Symbian operating system, used by mobile phones such as the Nokia Series 60. The group sent the code to an anti-virus company on Tuesday, who tested it in a lab and concluded "yes...it can be spread from phone to phone".
and the damage?
Such phone viruses could (in theory) wipe your phone-book, they could eavesdrop on your call, look at your diary. I guess the more we become reliant upon our handy, the more info goes on there and the more "attractive" it becomes to virus up / delete / reroute to the South Pole. Something to think about the next time you sms your credit card number.
damage set to hit handys?
Should I get worried
A friend of mine had her handy stolen from the office. When the police and the authorities finally tracked it down they told her that the thief had rung up a bill of 497 euros in 2 days: 95 calls were made to Romania and 14 calls to Israel and Italy. And worst of all: she had to pay the bill because the calls were made before a chance to register the theft. What happens if in the future, your phone bill at the end of the month starts showing up calls to Argentina cos someone had got a virus on your handy that re-routes everything to South America?
But don't get paranoid
Graham Cluley from Sophos - the anti-virus experts in the UK calmed me down with a re-assuring chat for Reality Check when he told me that:-
a) Like an attachment
- you'd have to accept the virus.
b) Virus writers like computers
- cos it's much easier to adapt a present computer virus to make it more potent.
c) Microsoft is still the No.1 target
- nothing is so tempting as the Bill Gates Empire.
- Sinking Siemens or Nokia doesn't match up!
Viruses writers fixed on computers for now?
And as for Cabir?
Cabir will stay under lock and key for now. The anti-software experts are aware of it, have cracked it and if it starts doing the rounds, virus writers 29a could expect a knock at the door in the middle of the night. The problem is there is a history of such "programmes" getting into the wrong hands. The journey from "lab-controlled Cabir" to "free-to-destroy Cabir" is not an unimagineable one.
title: Phone Viruses artist: Interview with Graham Cluley length: 2:56 MP3 (2.812MB) | WMA
Vienna | 17.6.2004 | 11:59 
