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Mabir worm is 'a cause for concern'

4 April 2005 9:39 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 6 comments

A new mobile phone virus that is not in circulation has many people very concerned because of it spreading methods. Like the viruses we've seen before the Mabir worm also infects Symbian Series 60 phones. It spreads through Multimedia Messaging Service messages (MMS) and it doesn't just send itself to numbers in a user�s phone book, it also replies to any received messages. Mabir is essentially a variant of the Cabir worm, which spreads only using Bluetooth.

An analysis of the worm by anti-virus firm F-Secure suggests that Mabir-A is based on the same source code as Cabir and is likely the product of the same coder. Mabir-A spreads using Bluetooth the same way as early variants of Cabir. When it activates it searches for the first Bluetooth phone it finds and sends copies of itself to it. However it�s the MMS spreading function that has many experts worried.

AfterDawn reported on an earlier mobile phone virus called Commwarrior-A which also could spread using MMS messages but it only could send itself to entries in a user�s phone book, unlike Mabir-A that will reply to any message sent to your phone with a copy of itself. One thing mobile phone users obviously need to be concerned about with viruses like Mabir-A and Commwarrior-A is the cost of sending out MMS messages.

Source:
The Register

Permalink to this article

52 new Symbian viruses discovered by SimWorks (20 April 2005)

Mobile safety is up to you (15 April 2005)

Microsoft partners with Symbian (22 March 2005)

Commwarrior threatens mobile phones (8 March 2005)

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Discuss this article!
venomX05 (Senior Member) 4 April 2005 11:03
GOOD GRIEF! Can someone PLEASE make some anti-virus software or something? This is kinda of ridiculous how these virus are being created more and more now. Yet, I have yet to see any type of AV for it on any phone. This is kinda like a wake up call to cell phone companies that they need to hop on the ball, I just can't believe that with all this, they haven't even shown the motivation in developing the AV first then coming out with new technology. I mean at least you will have something to hold back on viruses. Like the old saying goes: An ounce of prevention, is worth a pound of cure. Maybe, they should be using that as slogans for these tech companies, but oh well, cause they really didn't see this one cominig! YEAH RIGHT, who couldn't! ;) [ + quote]
vans12 (Member) 4 April 2005 17:25
I was woundering when this was going to happen. [ + quote]
denzilla (Junior Member) 4 April 2005 17:46
I've seen it all now. PC viruses, car viruses and now phones!? I swear AV companies are behind this stuff to create another market for their products! You know the old saying...."There is no money in curing a disease." [ + quote]
Rosco404 (Inactive) 5 April 2005 3:02
I seen the gadget show on tv not long ago, which showed a computer show like CBIT or somthing like that, and they showed you a working AntiVirus app running on a phone... crazy : ) [ + quote]
venomX05 (Senior Member) 5 April 2005 9:36
You all think this is bad...I don't know if anyone saw this article I posted up in regards to the Commwarrior virus, but I will paste it up on here again for all to read: http://web-japan.org/trends/business/bus041129.html Now, can someone please tell me, where are the AV companies going to do about this! I knew eventually there was going to be some sort of virus for phones, it was inevitable. But seriously, some of these AV companies need to wake up and see what is happening. [ + quote]
pro`noob (Senior Member) 10 April 2005 14:38
im happy i got an old phone still :) [ + quote]