The first virus to infect cellphones is not likely to cause any problems, local anti-virus firms say.
The virus, named Cabir, was discovered earlier this week. It appears to have been written by an international group of virus authors who specialise in 'proof of concept` viruses.
The worm runs on the Symbian operating system, which is used in certain Nokia, Siemens, Motorola and Sony Ericsson phones.
Netxactics, local Sophos distributor, says customers should not panic. Sophos says despite "hysterical" reports from some members of the security community, the virus does not appear to be in the wild, and seems unlikely to spread without the recipient being aware of it.
Finnish-based anti-virus firm F-Secure agrees, saying that while Cabir proves a point, it poses no serious threat.
"No incidents of Cabir spreading have been reported so far, but this worm is nevertheless perfectly functional and able to spread if released in the wild," says Matias Impivaara, business manager, mobile security services at F-Secure.
"The Cabir worm attempts to spread via Bluetooth to other compatible mobile phones in the vicinity, but recipients have to confirm they wish to receive the worm before it can infect them," says Brett Myroff, CEO of Netxactics.
"The only way this virus looks like it will spread is by anti-virus researchers sending it to each other in their high security laboratories," Myroff says.
Sophos advises cellphone users that they can protect themselves against Bluetooth threats by turning off the "visible to others" Bluetooth setting in their phones. "This protects against being sent unwanted malicious programs or from unexpected, unwanted (and possibly even unpalatable) messages. "
"If a person with an infected phone was walking through a city centre during the busiest afternoon jam, thousands of others could be infected. Even when we tested this worm, we had to do it in the company`s bomb shelter in order to prevent the worm from connecting to other Bluetooth phones and spreading," says Impivaara.
F-Secure says mobile malware incidents cause end-user support load, terminal downtime, negative customer experience, slow service adoption and bad publicity. The possibility of virus threats on mobile devices is increasing constantly as more advanced handheld devices are introduced to the market. Unintentional harmful content and vulnerabilities in mobile devices are also causing more problems.
In November last year, Sophos reported that some mobile phone users were worried they had a virus after their phones were "Bluejacked".
Sophos reminds users that although laptops, printers and other devices may have Bluetooth support, they cannot be infected by the Cabir virus, as they do not run the Symbian operating system.
"Mobile devices (PDAs and phones) have been theoretically vulnerable to viruses and Trojans for some years, but there has been very little malware written," Myroff says.
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