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Joined: 20/08/2002 11:51:57 Posts: 3859 Location: Essex, UK
Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 7:14 pm Post subject: Are phones the next major target for viruses?
We are all well aware of the threat that viruses to Windows PCs. Anyone running windows without anti-virus protection is just asking for trouble. Although this is the most well known and publicised source of viral infections there are many other machines and systems that potentially could be infected. One high profile system that was reported as having an infection some time ago was the TomTom GO... so viruses are not limited to computers.
Recently an anti-virus company conducted a trial across the UK and found that an unprotected phone can pick up some pretty serious problems. Now I may be a bit cynical here and say of course they would find these problems, but it certainly pays to ensure that you take precautions to protect the data on your phone.
Anyway here is the findings of their trial...
UMU Virus Trial wrote:
28 DAYS LATER – 7 DEADLY MOBILE VIRUSES PLAGUE BRITISH HIGH STREET
~ 8 million mobile phones under threat as wave of Euro worms infects UK ~
Forget the Rage virus in new feature film, 28 Weeks Later, the real virus threat infecting the UK is coming to a mobile phone near you. A 28-day study of a popular mobile phone’s activity in busy British high streets and shopping centres found the mobile had contracted 7 destructive viruses from across Europe.
Aptly named Skulls, Doomed and CommWarrior, these viruses, originating in Turkey, Russia and France will all incur untold damage to the data stored on there – corrupting and deleting contacts, calendar and pictures as well as texts, emails, music and videos. Certain viruses were also found to be capable of leaking potentially sensitive information on your phone, such as text messages, pictures and emails to other contacts in your address book, posing a real security threat to British business as well as consumers.
Mobile anti-virus specialists, UMU, found that taking a mobile phone, a Nokia 6630, to British high streets and shopping centres and turning on its Bluetooth receiver or downloading files via MMS, SMS or email opened up the device to immediate attack from hackers renowned for targeting these busy areas. In a matter of minutes the mobile was exposed to a range of viruses threatening to render the phone unusable and in need of complete reformatting – wiping all the information loaded onto it by the owner from contacts, calendar and messages to photos, music and games, which unless backed up, would all be lost. In some cases, the mobile was attacked by other malware which, once downloaded, could allow the hacker to monitor calls, emails and texts, steal private data, send that data onto others in the user’s address book and even dial premium rate numbers at the user’s expense.
Peter Harrison, CTO, UMU said, “The new breed of viruses are the most malicious we have ever seen. They are built by highly organised criminals, intent on either causing widespread damage or extracting maximum commercial gain. What is really scary is that lots of people may already be infected and not know it. Our monitoring has shown a sustained spike in malware detections this year - there are currently 300 viruses for smartphones. And with over 100 million smartphones now in existence it won’t be long before they spread.”
UMU identified five types of powerful viruses and the average number of times these viruses infected the mobile across the 28-day period:
Cabir x 1 – spread via Bluetooth and MMS, it does not directly damage the phone but continually tries to detect other devices to infect, greatly reducing battery life
CommWarrior x 2 – spread as above, it resets the phone on 14th of every month deleting all personal data
Skulls x 1 – downloaded by user, it disables phone applications like phone book, SMS, media player and changes all phone icons to a skull and crossbones leaving it unusable
CardTrap x 2 – spread as above, it overwrites applications such as the phone book with corrupted copies. These applications will no longer work when you next reboot the phone, rendering the phone useless. It also drops installers for Skulls, CommWarrior and Cabir onto the device and puts some Windows viruses onto the memory card so that plugging the memory card into a PC will result in the PC being infected as well.
Doomed x 1 – spread as above, it disables some applications and attempts to prevent the phone from restarting as well as installing Cabir, CommWarrior, Fontal, CardTrap, CardBlock and Skulls. It can also sometimes cause other Bluetooth devices in the vicinity of the infected device to restart.
Joined: Feb 27, 2006 Posts: 14907 Location: Keynsham
Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 7:43 pm Post subject: Re: Are phones the next major target for viruses?
MikeB wrote:
it certainly pays to ensure that you take precautions to protect the data on your phone.
How? Not that I've got anything really confidential, just my phonebook (the loss of which would be utter disaster) and a copy of Shostakovich's Waltz No 2 from the Jazz Suite which is all I've got left after the recent van visitation! I shall have to experiment to see if my new super blah, blah, blah can bluetooth grab a copy of the phonebook. _________________ Dennis
Joined: Feb 27, 2006 Posts: 14907 Location: Keynsham
Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 8:51 pm Post subject:
Yeah, I rather thought they might!! But I was thinking more on the lines of NOT paying to ensure that I take precautions to protect the data on my phone.
I mean, I'll willingly sell any mug one of my handcrafted Tom Tom reset tools. _________________ Dennis
Slightly off topic, but one of the biggest rip offs to affect phones (land and mobile) was the missed call scam.
You would receive a missed call and when you phoned the number to see who was calling you it would charge your phone something silly like £30.
Not sure if this has been stopped now, but I never dial unkown numbers on my phone, if they want me that bad they can try again later _________________ Tomtom Go730T
App 8.300
Map v815.2003
One of the main defenses must surely be not enabling Bluetooth. The second would be not to advertise your phone...
Thats all well and good Mike, but what about hands free driving which is normally via bluetooth, not enabling bluetooth is not an option to those that drive for a living.
My phone does however have an extra security measure, basically you can set it so it can not be discovered even with bluetooth enabled. _________________ Tomtom Go730T
App 8.300
Map v815.2003
Unless like our cyberchildren you are tranfering files, texting every sod in sight, and downloading games and frog tones on your phone, the liklyhood of getting a virus would be very slim. And if it were to be delivered by a text message it would have to be a needle in an extremly large haystack the you whould be the unlucky one.
I heard of a SMS delivered phone virus once that completly froze your phone! Never heard of anyone that got it tho. _________________ Dom
HERE LIES PND May it rest in peace.
Navigon 7310/iPhone Navigon&Copilot
Unless like our cyberchildren you are tranfering files, texting every sod in sight, and downloading games and frog tones on your phone, the liklyhood of getting a virus would be very slim. And if it were to be delivered by a text message it would have to be a needle in an extremly large haystack the you whould be the unlucky one.
I heard of a SMS delivered phone virus once that completly froze your phone! Never heard of anyone that got it tho.
I think you hit it on the head here, ever since bluetooth was added to mobiles this topic has been around.
I have two cyber-son's who are always downloading something (as also their friends) and as far as i'm aware they have no problems.
There is always the chance of getting a virus, whether it is hidden within a text, graphic or music file, i know how easy it is, as my computer nerd, 16 yr old, has shown me how easy it is is too do. I hasten to add, knows how to, but hasn't done it.
When ever you are sent a file by bluetooth, you have the option to receive it or not, most people even teenagers will only accept it from those they know.
Sometimes although the risk is around, Companies after a turnover can panic people into buying their product, a bit like statistics, read into it what you want! _________________ TomTom Go 60
Garmin Nüvi 660, Firmware v4.90
Drive-Smart GPS with Loader v1.4.16
HTC Advantage X7500 MS 6.1 Tchart Speed Sentry
Satmap Active 10, Software v1.16
Fuzion 32 HUD Bluetooth GPS receiver
Joined: Feb 27, 2006 Posts: 14907 Location: Keynsham
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 9:44 pm Post subject:
GJF wrote:
When ever you are sent a file by bluetooth, you have the option to receive it or not,
How true is this? I have a new very expensive blah, blah, blah laptop, bluetooth enabled and I can pass files to my phone from it, without question or permission. I did precisely that the other day whilst sitting in the garage waiting for my van to be serviced - passed over a 4Mb MP3 without taking the phone out of my pocket. Whilst doing so, I noticed that my laptop had also found another bluetoooth phone in the vicinity. Although consumed by curiosity, I did nothing as it would have been very naughty. _________________ Dennis
How true is this? I have a new very expensive blah, blah, blah laptop, bluetooth enabled and I can pass files to my phone from it, without question or permission.
I can also pass files from my laptop or desktop PC to any one of three mobiles, maybe it's the software, but all movements require permission codes or passwords to accept a complete file change. _________________ TomTom Go 60
Garmin Nüvi 660, Firmware v4.90
Drive-Smart GPS with Loader v1.4.16
HTC Advantage X7500 MS 6.1 Tchart Speed Sentry
Satmap Active 10, Software v1.16
Fuzion 32 HUD Bluetooth GPS receiver
My new very expensive blah, blah, blah laptop is a Apple Mac.
That's why then, Apple Mac's are more suited to Architects and Designers than those playing with their bluetooths. _________________ TomTom Go 60
Garmin Nüvi 660, Firmware v4.90
Drive-Smart GPS with Loader v1.4.16
HTC Advantage X7500 MS 6.1 Tchart Speed Sentry
Satmap Active 10, Software v1.16
Fuzion 32 HUD Bluetooth GPS receiver
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