cell phone virus ??

[yourdeadin]

hey guys this is not a tutorial but more or less like a security information , i could not find the proper place to put this post so i put it down here as the form also says "security" well if you think what this is a wrong place then plz lemme know , but plz don hate me for that , i'd never do any thing that would up set you all...



Mobile Phone Virus


With the detection of the of a virus that can worm its way onto smart phones, security has once again come to the forefront of people’s mind. While the appearance of a virus on a handset is something of inevitability, the wireless industry views security as a top concern.

Mobile security is one of the fastest growing sectors in wireless space, it is a priority for everybody, from operators to device manufacturers to silicon vendors to the mobile software, and the middle vendors said analyst John Jackson.

While it is a concern for those mires in the wireless sector, the average wireless user is another matter. Concerns over worm attacks on personal computers have become a common place, but announcement that a ‘concept virus’ has been discovered most likely brought the notion a little closer to home for wireless users

Security software developer, Kaspersky labs detected the worm, dubbed ‘cabir’. The company says that the worm is designed to propagate via mobile networks and infect Symbain OS - although this virus can affect other operating systems.

A group that specializes in the creation of proof created the virus –of-concept virus .the good news about the virus is that it only runs on a phone if the user enables the file to be launched. Thus far, there are no reports that a live user has been affected.

As Mobile phones become more advanced to support more application, code density in mobile phone increases exponentially, so there is a threat there, according to Jackson.
“ It is safe to say that the appearance of a virus on a handset is an inevitability,” Jackson says. “There are people out there that mean unwell, bur really hasn’t been a high profile case here, which is often, what it takes to catch the publics interest”.

Jackson also does say it is too early to predict whether virus will be a wireless data killer, but says that collectively as an industry ‘we have an opportunity here to pre- attempt some of the misfortune that has struck the PC industry in terms of virus” he says

What is Cabir?

 An international group specializing in creating viruses, which try to show “that no technology is reliable and safe from their attacks”, has developed Cabir a mobile virus.

 It infects the Symbain operating system and propagates through new blue tooth wireless technology.

 If virus succeeds in penetrating the phone, it writes the inscription Cabir on the screen and is activated every time the phone is switched on.

 It is able to scan for phone using blue tooth technology and sends a copy of it self to the first handset it finds

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So I guess that the day is not very far when we will see that a NORTON or a McAFFE anti virus in our mobile phones. I guess the above mentioned have opened a Pandora’s box by making the first mobile phone virus (remember America starting the atom bomb race).

What make’s me really scared is the medium that the virus uses and the applications that it can infect. Bluetooth applications are increasing day to day and so are the sales and if a virus gets loose then believe me it will be one hell of a ride for all the Bluetooth user’s including me (I’ve a Nokia 7650).

I do not see the day too far when we will have a Terminator III scenario (remember the virus moves all over the world and starts a war). I do not want to sound too paranoid but we should start to look for remedy even before the illness occurs. “Prevention better than cure rule”

Who is secure???
The big question, which OS is secure, exactly even I don’t know, but with the OS of big mobile companies targeted, I’d say choose an OS who has he maximum experience in virus infection & termination. Well as far as I think it’d be (I hate to admit it) Micro$oft Windows for mobile phones are the best OS secure.
As we know that Microsoft has a bit of virus experiences in the past (are you kidding me?) ,they have faced hell with virus break outs).So with that much rich experience in virus Microsoft will surely have made their OS tough nut to break to .


Whom to trust ?
Well lemme ask you this question. I know many of you have window$ XP installed in your computer , rite, so when ever you have an error and the program you are using shuts down you get a tiny screen asking whether you want to report this error to Microsoft , truth fully how many of you do let the program to report the error to Microsoft. Frankly, I never did as I do not trust the Microsoft people. With so many illegal things on my box ( porn , illegally downloaded mp3 , yahoo & hotmail bots , mail bombers, SMS bombers etc). How am I supposed to trust the program , how should I know that the program is not invading my privacy , who knows whether the Microsoft people will report this to my countries cyber law people and I will be caught and put behind bars . Ya sure, the program shows the report which it is sending to the MS people how can I be sure that the report is not encrypted in some manner , it can happen , can’t it.??

Therefore, in the same manner by using an OS, which will start, acting as Trojan horse, our data and we are in eminent danger , what say you ?? . yes I agree TRUST but some times I feel very very uncomfortable know some one who I don’t know can see what I am doing don’t you ??

Prevention better than cure , but how???
We surely need some new laws over blue tooth data theft or should I call it data coping ???. “technology grows and so does head ache over security”- unknown. It is true . As of now nothing can be done and even if some one is stealing your data there is not a damn thing you can do about it coz you will never know what happened . cell phones do have the displaying capacity of a computer and hence can never tell the difference between sharing or breaking in !!. one thing, which is a blessing in disguise, is that the hackers can never erase any information , which also prevents in detection of an attack .


What can be done ?
One word to a thousand word “NOTHING”. At present we can be consoled that not many have this technology to hack blue tooth devices ( excluding the CIA,KGB , HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE , RAW etc.) these people use to keep a track of all the terrorists and stuff like that . It will be quite some time before this reaches people like you and me , and by that time some cure will have be discovered for this uncovered wound

Adios amigo !!
Hope you liked it !

[MrLinus]

Original Source. Altering the text just makes it more obvious it was from another source. It would have been better to create a discussion about this than attempting to claim someone else's work as your own.

[Cybr1d]

You should really learn to quote the authors of the information you plagiarize:

Analyst: Mobile Security Is A Top Priority
By Susan Rush
June 16, 2004
news@2 direct

http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.as...ance&industry=

Analyst: Mobile Security Is A Top Priority
By Susan Rush
June 16, 2004
news@2 direct

With yesterday's detection of a virus that could worm its way onto smartphones, security has once again come to the forefront of people's minds. While the appearance of a virus on a handset is something of an inevitability, the wireless industry views security as a top concern, according to one industry analyst.

"Mobile security is one of the fastest growing sectors in the wireless space and it is a priority for everybody, from operators to device manufacturers to silicon vendors to the mobile software and middleware vendors," Yankee Group analyst John Jackson tells news@2. "It is an area that gets tons of attention."

While it is a concern for those mired in the wireless sector, the average wireless user is another matter. Concerns over worm attacks on personal computers have become commonplace, but yesterday's announcement that a "concept virus" had been discovered most likely brought the notion a little closer to home for wireless users. The worm, dubbed Cabir, was detected by security software developer Kaspersky Labs. The company says the worm is designed to propagate via mobile networks and infect smartphones running the Symbian OS -- although other operating systems could be affected by the virus.

The virus was created by a group that specializes in the creation of proof-of-concept viruses. The good news about the virus is that it only runs on a phone if the user enables the file to be launched. Thus far, there are no reports that the virus has infected a live user.

As wireless phones become more advanced to support more applications, code density in mobile handsets increases exponentially, so there is a threat there, according to Jackson. "It is safe to say that the appearance of a virus on a handset is an inevitability," he says. "There are people out there that mean unwell, but there really hasn't been a high-profile case here, which is often what it takes to catch the public's interest." Jackson does say it is too early to predict whether viruses will be a wireless data killer, but says collectively as an industry that "we have an opportunity here to preempt some of the misfortune that has struck the PC industry in terms of viruses," he says.

Beaten again ...I swear she enjoys doing this....It just makes the adrenaline rush in her blood when she beats us to the post ROFL!