Vandoline Nkwain
5 May 2008
Antivirus firms in the UK have received the first-ever computer virus spread using mobile phones by worms known as cabir.
Cabir infects phones and devices running the Symbian Operating System. It requires the Bluetooth technique to travel thus it can be geographically constrained to a radius of about 30 metres. It depends entirely on people having Bluetooth turned on within that range to infect other devices.
The infected file, which is followed by the phrase "source unknown", is launched on the mobile phone screen and displays the word 'Caribe'. Although no infections have been recorded as a result of this new virus, it is an indication that mobile phones are facing a risk from virus writers.
Need has, therefore, been expressed for mobile phone owners to begin protecting their phones the way they do their PCs because it is uncertain how much damage can be caused by the new virus. It is advisable that telephone owners download firewalls onto their phones in order to enhance their resistance to material of unknown origin.
According to BBC reports, anti-virus firm, F-Secure, was among a handful of security companies to receive the cabir virus and believes that the virus was produced by a group of virus writers known as 29a. The 29a group has a reputation for writing and distributing virus and has been linked to the production of a recent virus called the Rugrat Virus.
Though trivial now, the impact of the cabir virus must not be overlooked and mobile phone owners should be ready to contact computer technicians in the near future to install their antivirus in their mobile phones.
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