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| The Cabir worm will only work on mobile phones
running the Symbian operating system. However, there are no reports
of anyone being infected. |
Sophos virus experts have advised customers not to panic,
following media reports of the first virus to infect cell
phones.
The Symb/Cabir-A worm runs on
the Symbian operating system, used by mobile phones such as the
Nokia Series 60. However, 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.
"The Cabir worm attempts to spread via Bluetooth to other
compatible mobile phones in their vicinity, but recipients have to
confirm they wish to receive the worm before it can infect them,"
said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "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. Users probably need to be more concerned about the
large number of malicious Windows worms spreading around via email
and the internet at the moment."
Sophos advises cell phone users that they can protect themselves
against many types of 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.
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," continued Cluley. "The variation
in details such as OS version, firmware revision and device
characteristics in the mobile arena has resulted in a "moving
target" for virus writers. This is one reason why there is not
currently a large threat to mobiles from malicious code. The virus
writers seem much more interested in attacking the old faithful
target: Computers running Microsoft Windows."
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.