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CellPhone Worms, Viruses, Trojans and Malware
A group of underground virus writers has showed off "Cabir", what is believed to be the world's first worm that can spread on mobile phones using Bluetooth, but security software companies say the virus had no malicious code attached.

The security challenges in the mobile environment are similar to the problems we have encountered in the PC world. Open platforms are becoming popular in smartphones, for example the Symbian operating system is used in more than 20 million mobile phones at the moment.

F-Prot believe that in the future, it is likely that we will also see new kinds of attacks: trojan horses in games, screensavers and other applications -- resulting in false billing, unwanted disclosure of stored information, and deleted or stolen user data.

The best way to protect a smartphone against harmful content is to install automated antivirus software to the phone. This is also the only way to get full protection against viruses that try to enter the phone for example over Bluetooth or internet connections.

CellularOnline says that the best way of protecting yourself currently is using F-Prot's F-Secure Mobile Anti-Virus application.

Here are some recent incidents reported by F-Secure Mobile Anti-Virus :

2004
March 2004
A trojanized game called Mosquitos was found. It secretly sent messages to expensive toll numbers, creating invisible costs for the user.

June 2004
June 15th: Cabir worm was found. Cabir is a worm that replicates over-the-air using bluetooth connections.

June 16th: Cabir.B is found. This new variant had minor differences compared to the original.

September 2004
Cabir.B starts spreading in the wild. It is detected in several countries since, including China, India, Turkey, Philippines and Finland. It continues spreading today, travelling from one country to another as people with infected phones travel.

November 2004
November 19th: Skulls.A trojan is found. It replaces icons on the phone with skull images, making the phone almost useless.

November 29th: Skulls.B is found

December 2004
December 9th: Cabir.C is found

December 9th: Cabir.D is found

December 9th: Cabir.E is found

December 21st: Skulls.C is found

December 21st: Cabir.F is found

December 21st: Cabir.G is found

This last batch of malware was distributed masked as a pirate version of a popular game for mobile phones; when run, it installs Skulls and Cabir variants and tries to attack security products installed on the phone. It also tries to disable F-Secure Mobile Anti-Virus but fails.

F-Secure Mobile Anti-Virus is the most comprehensive solution available for protecting smartphones against harmful content, from undesired messages to malfunctioning applications. It provides real-time, on-device protection and automatic over-the-air antivirus updates through a patented SMS update mechanism and HTTPS connections.

GPRS Hacking
GPRS networks have also been vulnerable to hacking.

In June 2003, a security flaw was reported in the Nokia GGSN (Gateway GPRS support node) that could have lead to a Denial of Service (DoS) attack by hackers. The A5 hack also affects GPRS.
[See: Nokia GPRS network could be hacked]

Israeli-based ECtel says that an unnamed major USA based wireless carrier has ordered its new lawful interception solution for packet data networks. The order was placed following and intensive and thorough evaluation process of various competitive solutions. ECtel's flexible X-Probe PD solution was designed to help service providers comply with new Lawful Interception regulations for data networks monitoring.

SMS Hacking:
A Security flaw was also reported at Verizon's SMS service in August 2003. The bug allowed any person to easily view mass lists of SMS messages sent to Verizon Cellular customers, including the telephone number and the text in the message

In January 2003, Microsoft and Orange UK investigated whether hackers sent rogue software to cell phones using Microsoft's Smartphone 2002 operating system
See: Microsoft investigation of hackers using Smartphone

Bluetooth Hacking
There have also been warnings that Bluetooth Class I devices pose hacking & security risk. In addition, preliminary research from security firm A.L. Digital suggests a number of security problems with Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones from Nokia and Ericsson.

Mobile Phone Jammers & Detectors.

Mobile Phone Jammers are now also the rage. They come in various permutations, including a new device that looks like a normal cellphone and whihc can block any calls within a 100m radius. [ See New GSM Jammer Looks Like a GSM Cellphone]

In December 2003, the bizarre Jamming Of a Moldovan GSM Network was reported. 

The US military recently unveiled the WolfPack Mobile jammer which is dropped by parachute

 

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