What Is a Mobile Phone Virus?
With the growth of the smart phone, mobile phones with Internet connectivity that work like a handheld computer, phone users have also seen the advent of the mobile phone virus. In 2004, the first mobile phone virus, called Cabir, was unleashed, and proved relatively innocuous. The virus form affected phones running Symbian operating systems (OS). It affected phones that were using Bluetooth®, and once the virus was in the phone, it would seek out other Bluetooth® capable devices, infecting them also. Cabir was an example of a worm, a virus that replicates on other devices. Since Bluetooth® only has a short range, the virus technically could only spread to other devices in close proximity, but, as people moved, they could technically encounter a lot of other smart phones on the move. The spread was quick and the virus is now present in numerous countries. Fortunately, this mobile phone virus only changed a few words, and didn’t affect operation of the phone, though the scanning for oth
A mobile phone virus or mobile malware – malicious mobile software – is a computer virus specifically adapted for the mobile phone environment and designed to spread from one vulnerable phone to another. A virus is a program code that replicates by being copied to another program. Viruses can be transmitted as attachments to an email or in a download file. Some viruses take effect as soon as their code is executed; other viruses can lie dormant. A virus that replicates by resending itself as an email attachment or as a part of a network message is known as a worm. Viruses can range from benign to quite harmful; they can erase data from the infected phone or send fake messages purporting to be from the phones owner. How prevalent are mobile phone viruses? The current security risk from mobile phone viruses and worms is low. Until many more smart phones or PDAs are in use, and users of these phones are regularly exchanging executable files, the risk will remain low. The mobile industry t
