New Virus Bombards Mobile Phones With Junk Calls

Wolfe writes: "We knew it was only a matter of time before something like this happened ... I can't wait until our lives and households are completly wired and some jerk sends a virus to my toaster or hacks the coffee machine." Similarly, crovax writes: "A new virus that spams mobile phone users is out. Checkout the story here. This virus that has only been reported in Spain infects a computer then starts generating random mobile phone numbers." I'd hate to be on the Washington Beltway when this hits the D.C. area!

Comments

Re:It's time for a neologism

[orpheus]

I absolutely agree that its important to make the distinction between virus, worm, trojan, etc., it would cut down on confusion, and encourage more background understanding of computers in general.

However, I think it's funny that you suggest "pathogens". In medical school, we had the same problem with distinctions that were generally important (bacteria, protozoa, viruses, worms, other parasites, etc.), but which could be cumbersome when speaking generically. 'Pathogen' wasn't always appropriate either (the same species can be a pathogen in one site, and normal flora in another).

Do you know what we call them, collectively, in the hospital? Bugs.

"Hmmm... Computer bugs?" No, that's already taken...

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All right, who's the wise guy who /.'d the New England Journal of Medicine website tonight? It's up, but it's boggy as hell.

Slashdot needs to be more carefull

[geoffeg]

"New Virus Bombards Mobile Phones With Junk Calls"

No, it bombards their cell phones with SMS (short for Short Message Service) messages, not phone calls. I wish slashdot article posters would pay more attention to what they are typing and read more carefully.

Geoff

Effect on pricing structure?

[Matt2000]

This will be interesting as most cell phone pricing packages charge you for an email message received on your phone whether you want it or not. What will happen when they let through 300 messages from a worm cruising around and you get a $150 phone bill.

Spam from these sorts of viruses is irritating when you're on a flat rate internet connection, it's gonna be a serious issue when you pay per message.

Hotnutz.com - Funny

Night fever night fever!

[Halster]

I hope the people involved in developing the "wired home" and associated technologies take note of this.

I can imagine it. The Saturday Night Fever Virus. It triggers at about 11:00pm on a Saturday. All your lights start flashing on and off, your stereo starts playing a BeeGees track and your toaster burns some toast (for that authentic nightclub-smoke atmosphere).

Or even better... the ILoveYou@Home virus. Your bed starts vibrating, the lights dim, the stereo starts playing some romantic music, then it rings your neighbor and starts the same thing at their house! ;)


"How much truth can advertising buy?" - iNsuRge - AK47

Anyone else notice the two articles contradict?

[gavinhall]

Posted by serpens:

The articles say different things. It looks like another journalist wasn't listening to what was being said.

The Yahoo article:
They also said the attack is relatively benign, as it does not destroy computer files but merely delivers a message disparaging the Spanish telephone company Telefonica.

The MSNBC story:
The virus has a nasty payload, as well - it attempts to delete all files on the victim's hard drive and performs several other operations that makes restoration difficult.


Do journalists get anything right anymore???

serpens`

It's time for a neologism

[/]

The virus type, known as a worm, targets phones

This is just plain wrong; viruses are viruses and worms are worms and never the twain shall meet. What we need to do is start using a general word like "pathogens" to describe all communicable software nasties. If people then want to get specific and say what sort of pathogen it is, then that's fine, but to treat "viruses" as a category encompassing worms and trojan horses and the sort is absurd.

Phone Virus!

[the_other_one]

This is scary. We could all be wiped out by a disease spread by a dirty telephone. I'm going to hire a telephone sanitizer right away.