sirhenry 0 Report post Posted February 16, 2005 Cell phone and Blue Tooth viruses are just around the corner. It's a big and scary world out there... Cell phone viruses, largely considered a paper tiger in the digital security world, became a bit more dangerous this week with the release of a two-pronged program. Writers have released a virus, known as Lasco.A, that spreads both through wireless connections and by attaching itself to files, antivirus company F-Secure said Monday. Until now, malicious cell phone programs have spread using one mechanism or the other. "We have received a new Symbian malware that combines two spreading tactics, which is common in PC malware but previously unheard of in mobile systems," F-Secure said in a posting on its Web site. The Lasco.A virus will attach itself to any application file on a phone that uses the Symbian operating system, F-Secure said. It is activated when cell phone owners click on the file and install it on their handsets. "Thus any (application) file in the device that gets copied to another phone, as frequently happens as people swap software, will also contain a copy of Lasco.A," F-Secure said. The program also acts like a computer worm, attempting to copy itself directly to any phone within range using Bluetooth wireless technology, F-Secure said. That capability is similar to several recent worms--variants of the Cabir worm--that have managed to spread to a limited amount of phones in the wild. Such programs have not been very successful, however. Only recent cell phone operating systems are programmable to the extent that viruses can effectively spread. Moreover, the large number of proprietary operating systems used in cell phones make the development of broad threats much more difficult. As the new virus can only spread on cell phones that have Bluetooth in discoverable mode, the best way to protect handset systems is to set it to hidden Bluetooth mode, F-Secure has advised. Tell me your thoughts! (that was taken from this article) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
novaforme 0 Report post Posted February 16, 2005 Sweeet Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rejected 0 Report post Posted February 16, 2005 I'm glad I have an older phone, it doesn't have the capability of putting programs on it, or images, or anything like that. Anyone here get the virus? I wonder if they're going to make a virus dector program for phones. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
darkmeca 0 Report post Posted February 16, 2005 wow...now that some scary stuff...thank god my phone doesnt have blue tooth on it... plus i dont really use any appilcations. is there any way to fight against it like a anti-virus? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iwuvcookies 0 Report post Posted February 16, 2005 yeh i can imagine this happening. Well since in the future almost all the phones will have internet on them and its a whole new issue. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bureX 0 Report post Posted February 17, 2005 Nothing serious... These viruses spread through a Bluetooth connection, and because Bluetooth uses allot of battery power, most users turn it off when it is not needed.There are a few viruses that spread through phones (usually with a Symbian OS), they turn on Bluetooth on the infected phone, and when there is another Bluetooth user around, it sends him a .sis file (installation program for Symbian). If a user installs that file, it will infect that phone also, spread, and will eventually delete all system files on the phone, which will render it unusable. The only solution for this is to flash the phone (insert new software inside it, kind of like formatting a HDD and installing a new OS).In conclusion, there is nothing to fear about. Just don't accept .sis files over a Bluetooth connection from an unknown phone.BTW: Nokia is preparing an antivirus for phones, and it will become integrated by default in every Nokia Symbian phone from now on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hamtaro 0 Report post Posted February 17, 2005 It figures they'd have viruses for phones too! Good thing mine doesn't have that on it! It's weird how a cell phone can have a virus, when you think about it...I usually just associate viruses with humans and computers, not phones. At least they're going to have an antivirus program for the phones, because who knows how well the virus can spread (Seems to spread really well, if they're using that...blue tooth thing. Anyway, I don't know all that much about using that type of stuff with cell phones, but at least it can only come on that one type of file (At least I think it's just it...) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Metal Gear Brett 0 Report post Posted February 17, 2005 I have an old-*bottom* phone, so the biggest problem I have to worry about is it spontaneously combusting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
7r33 0 Report post Posted February 17, 2005 This is realy old news the first one was coded in june of 2004 heres what symantiec put out about it. SymbOS.Cabir is a proof-of-concept worm that replicates on Series 60 phones. This worm repeatedly sends itself to the first Bluetooth-enabled device that it can find, regardless of the type of device. For example, even a Bluetooth-enabled printer will be attacked if it is within range. The worm spreads as a .SIS file, which is installed into the APPS directory. There is no payload, apart from the vastly shortened battery life caused by the constant scanning for Bluetooth-enabled devices. Also Known As: EPOC.Cabir, Worm.Symbian.Cabir.a [Kaspersky], Cabir [F-Secure], EPOC/Cabir.A [Computer Associates], Symb/Cabir-A [sophos], EPOC_CABIR.A [Trend], Symbian/Cabir [McAfee] Type: Worm Infection Length: 15104 (caribe.sis), 11944 (caribe.app), 11498 (flo.mdl), 44 (caribe.rsc) Systems Affected: EPOC Systems Not Affected: DOS, Linux, Macintosh, Novell Netware, OS/2, UNIX, Windows 2000, Windows 3.x, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ Also it was made by the virus writeing groop 29A. Yet one more quote. (12)+vallez, the new 29A member, coded the very first virus infector for mobiles! You can see a29's home page at http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ also they have been the first in many outher virus's such as the first widnows 64 bit virus... Anyways... old news... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
boyCradle 0 Report post Posted February 17, 2005 Cellphone manufacturers actually designed their products with viruses. So the cellphone users would buy another cellphones from them after their units were infected, or they, the users, would upgrade their phone with fees. these flaws were created long before they could release the mobile phone unitse in the market. This is same with the Windows Operatin System, they already had Windows 98 with them when they released Windows 95, So people will be required to upgrade to Windows 98 because of Windows 95 flaws. That's just one of the reasons how Bill Gates became rich. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iwuvcookies 0 Report post Posted February 17, 2005 thats retarded in a sense. Man peopel just want money. All the Billions that he has in his bank. lol. rip off. I wonder if they will come out with a windows powered cell phone or maybe there is one. iono....How do you know they put viruses in the cellphones themselves already? I mean isn't that bad if the news people are gonna talk about it and debate the issue. Or are you just saying what you think? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
darkmeca 0 Report post Posted February 17, 2005 well there are many things like that ppl say they had dvds before cds but they just didnt wanna release it because they wanted make the consumers buy cd and get used to it so that later on when the dvd came out they would all have to buy that. oh and gamboy advanced, when they made it they already had sp technology but they wanted ppl to buy two different things so they added the light feature just later on...there are soo many things like that, it could be true or false but it just pisses me off the fact that they might be doing things like that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Good Grief Graphics 0 Report post Posted February 17, 2005 well there are many things like that ppl say they had dvds before cds but they just didnt wanna release it because they wanted make the consumers buy cd and get used to it so that later on when the dvd came out they would all have to buy that. oh and gamboy advanced, when they made it they already had sp technology but they wanted ppl to buy two different things so they added the light feature just later on...there are soo many things like that, it could be true or false but it just pisses me off the fact that they might be doing things like that. 51411[/snapback] As far as win 95 and win 98, I doubt that. It's not like bluetooth is a onnection with long range, so you really have nothing to worry about. Most people have turned off bluetooth on their phone anyway, as burex said. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eskick 0 Report post Posted February 17, 2005 thats kinda old, and they call it mobile phones in england. but the most harmfull thing is, it affects my phone the most! wich is a nokia 6630 actually 7610's get affected the most but mine could get affected because it is a symbian phones, forgot to mension it only comes to symbian phones so beware. if you want to know if your phone is symbian please click on the following link or paste it onto your browser:http://licensing.symbian.org/ . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
talbotda13 0 Report post Posted February 17, 2005 I'm glad that i dont have a cell phone. i see no use in a cell phone. its all mumbo-jumbo stuff to me Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
