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Mobile users face growing virus threat

Virus writers are not yet targeting mobile platforms, but is this the calm before the storm?

Madeline Bennett, IT Week, IT Week 03 Feb 2003

Protecting mobile devices from viruses could become a big headache for firms over the next couple of years, according to a recent report. However, the good news is that virus writers seem to be paying little attention to mobile platforms at present.

The increasing sophistication of mobile devices and the widespread use of 2.5G and 3G networks could help viruses to cause major problems in the future, according to research from antivirus company McAfee Security.

It predicts that by 2005, a malicious attack on a next-generation phone would have the potential to infect almost a third of mobile users within just three days.

Mobile platforms have posed few problems so far. According to antivirus firm Sophos, almost no virus writers have focused on mobile phones, Psions or Pocket PC devices. Though there has been a virus called Phage that targeted Palms, it never actually infected any devices.

But mobile devices will become more attractive targets, according to Arvind Narain, senior vice president at McAfee Security. "As 2.5G and 3G networks become part of our everyday life, hackers and virus writers will launch attacks that exploit these new technologies," he said.

The report argues that as more mobile devices begin to run PC-like software, so malicious users will find it easier to attack these systems.

Attacks on unprotected mobiles could render the devices unusable, causing major headaches for business users, the report says. It argues that there is also a risk of data loss on handsets and failure of network services due to virus infections.

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