Newsletters

June 2005
Cell Phone Viruses
Should you be Worried?

Predictions of the onslaught of viruses attacking cell phones have been around for several years, and the first viruses hit last year. Today, cell phone viruses are still rare. The first outbreak was apparently controlled and designed simply to demonstrate that cell phones and PDA’s are vulnerable. The virus, Cabir, was not capable of propagating on a mass scale, but apparently could spread itself using Bluetooth wireless technology. The worm targeted Nokia phones since they run an operating system known as Symbian. The virus would duplicate itself via a SIS file, a Symbian specific distribution format. The main damage caused by infection was to the battery of the device, exhausted by the virus’s constant scanning for other Bluetooth wireless enabled devices.

A handful of cell phone viruses were identified in 2004. Some experts believe by 2006 cell phone viruses will be equivalent to today’s Internet viruses. Most basic phones can send and receive text messages, one obvious method to spread infection. An article in the Washington Post stated that in Japan, cell phones have been spammed with junk messages, some of which redirect phones to websites that cause phones to crash.

Opinions actually vary as to how threatening cell phone viruses really are. Some believe a serious virus could destroy cell phones and users could lose any information stored on their devices. Experts have speculated that a truly malicious virus could be more than a nuisance, potentially criminal and even bring down networks. Others disagree pointing out that there are inherent limitations in the mobile phone infrastructure for widespread contagion. For example, mobile devices have different operating systems making a single widespread attack challenging. Also, the user must launch such viruses. Still, some say that many cell phone users may fall prey to lures in messages offering free software or security updates. Few phones have anti-virus protection and “smart phones” with Internet connections could provide an avenue for infection. The most cynical view on the issue of cell phone viruses seems to come from Larry Seltzer in eWeek, who noted the references to the “wide spread distribution of the Cabir Bluetooth cell phone virus” as a tool for vendors who provide security software or consulting this area – “scaremongering”. Symbian launched a plan in early 2004 for legitimate software vendors that “validates an application’s source and confirms that it has passed a series of industry-accepted tests”. If an application does not have a valid digital signature Symbian OS will present a security warning.

As I write this, I wonder if teenagers like our son will be particularly susceptible to cell phone viruses. So many kids are carrying them these days. His father’s laptop froze up last year because of multiple viruses we presumed came from frequent visits to online gaming sites. Online games are also accessible from cell phones, and he, like his friends, are addicted users of instant messaging on their mobile devices. In April, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan cautioned cell phone users to pay close attention to their text messaging and avoid opening unsolicited messages or even messages from friends with a strange subject or attachment. Sound advice.