An Australian company says it can cure the world`s first cellphone virus, while phone maker Nokia says catching the worm is not likely.
The virus, named Cabir, was discovered last week, and was written off by experts as a 'proof of concept` virus rather than an attempt to cause damage at this stage.
The worm runs on the Symbian operating system, which is used in certain Nokia, Siemens, Motorola and Sony Ericsson phones. Anti-virus vendors gave the assurance last week that Cabir was not likely to be widespread, but cellphone users have expressed alarm nonetheless.
Gavin Knight, chief executive of Brisbane company TSG Pacific, says although the virus is relatively harmless, others would follow. His company has released mobile phone anti-virus software that detects and removes Cabir. He says that as far as he is aware, TSG Pacific`s Cabir anti-virus software is the only one in the world.
Meanwhile, Nokia has echoed the assurances of anti-virus companies, saying the security threat is relatively small.
The company says the best precautions are to hide or switch off Bluetooth, and to exercise caution when accepting files from unknown or untrusted sources. Nokia adds that if the Cabir worm is accepted to a device, it can be deleted without causing harm.
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