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First Destructive Mobile Phone Virus In The Wild
gbjbaanb writes "eek! the BBC is reporting the first mobile phone virus that causes damage is out and about. The virus only works with the Symbian Series 60's OS (no, not the Smartphone) and spreads through an adapted copy of the legitimate Mosquitos game.
Once installed, a hidden program sends SMS texts to premium rate numbers.
That's not so bad, no doubt the premium rate numbers will be switched off soon but the worst is yet to come - "typically we see them in the wild then copycat ones come along soon after," said Sal Viveros, director of wireless security at McAfee."
Get the full shimmy here.
The Register already dug into the details. The premium-rate calls were not added by a virus or by warez monkeys, but were in the original game as a way to monitor who copied it.
From the article:
The company that made the original legitimate Mosquito game, Ojom, said it had installed the program itself in earlier versions of the game after concerns over piracy.
It was intended that the program secretly send a SMS message to alert them if an unlicensed copy was being used, according to Mr Hypponen.
Watch the Teaser Trailer for "The Lightning Thief" Her
1. It was not a virus. A pirated version of a game included malware that SMS'd a phone number without the users permission.
2. The malware was not added by the people who pirated the game. Interestingly, it was an intended feature of the game, included by the company.
3. The original intent of the malware was to secretly "phone home" when a pirated version of the game was being played. Because of complaints, they removed this "feature" from later versions. The pirated version was old, and still includes the "feature".
What I find interesting is that they included such a "feature" to begin with.
Mosquitos smartphone 'Trojan' there by design By John Leyden Published Wednesday 11th August 2004 13:31GMT The Mosquitos Symbian dialler Trojan is not really a Trojan horse after all.
Many news outlets, including ourselves, reported that a trojanised version of Mosquitos game for Symbian Series 60 smartphones was circulating online and across P2P networks. Cracked versions of the game secretly sends SMS messages to premium rate numbers, according to reports on various online forums.
Illegal copies of the game display the following message on start-up: This version has been cracked by SODDOM BIN LOADER No rights reserved. Pirate copies are illegal and offenders will have lotz of phun!!!
Yesterday Symbian put out a statement which contributed to the impression that malign code was inserted into 'cracked' versions of the game by members of the computer underground. However it turns out that the hidden SMS functionality, along with a message written in the best vernacular VXer speak, was put in the game from the beginning by the original games publisher Ojom.
In an advisory, AV firm F-Secure explains: This functionality was intended to be a copy-protecting technique - it didn't work as planned and the whole functionality backfired.
The premium rate contracts for the phone numbers have been terminated, so although old versions of the game still send hidden SMS messages, it only costs the nominal fee of sending the message itself. Current versions of this game no longer have this hidden functionality, but 'cracked' versions of Mosquitos still float in P2P network - and they still send these messages, it adds.
So what appeared to be a Trojan is actually a rather sneaky and somewhat ineffective copy-protection technique. Proof that even if something looks like a duck, talks like a duck and walks like a duck it isn't necessarily Anas platyrhynchos.
Although the Mosquitos saga turns out to be an urban myth, the recent discovery of the first malware capable of infecting smartphones shatters the comforting belief the mobile phones are safe from viral infection. The threat is very low at present but shouldn't be completely discounted. ®
Do not meddle in the affairs of geeks for they are subtle and quick to anger
Nowhere in the article is that term used. And the description of the virus doesn't sound like it causes "damage" at all. The submitter's info leads one to believe the phones are made unusable.
:)
Editors, please edit before posting these stories.
"People" using "unnecessary" quotes should be "shot".
It has nothing to do with software? Yes it surely does. Java-enabled phones run software. Thus OS/software is relevant.
The submitter DID NOT read the article AT ALL, and apparenty neither did the editors.
First of all, it specifically says that the phone DOES NOT text premium numbers. The problem is NOT a virus; it's not even really a trojan. It's a feature that "calls home" in case it's an unlicensed copy. Not only that, the feature was removed in later versions; the cracked version was older. They got what they deserved.
Karma: Segmentation fault (tried to dereference a null post)
Article:
"...text messages will still be sent, although not at premium rates."
"Mosquito's Trojan does not do any other damage..."
Most people I know here the US do not have unlimited SMS plans. Most people don't know much about text messaging at all. So these people would be sending SMS messages out and being billed for it regardless of the numbers being "premium rate" or not.
Thus it does do damage as your bill goes up that month.
Well, either the original article was changed or the article poster didn't really read the article to being with. :( In either case, that's kinda sad.
Though I'd thought that the crackers would have spotted their cracked software doing something unintended...
Interesteding historical tidbit... the Pakistani Brain virus was written with a similar anti-piracy intent in mind. Though that was a virus and spread destructively. This is just a trojan which is annoying.
If a writer really wanted to be destructive, they would have overwritten the Symbian OS boot code and firmware loading codes and executed a phone reboot. (nevermind the sim card and access to other data cards inserted into the phone)
Kinda makes me reconsider getting a more powerful phone... :(
Winged Power Photography
I advise you to turn off automatic MMS download if you have not already done so.
Orange sends crap to your phone such as trailers for Catwoman.
The "do not download if bigger than x kb" defaults to 100k but Orange will send 99.9Kb files to bypass this.
Once again the best thing is to deactivate automatic downloads of messages.
The Reg has the correct story. In short, it was deliberately done by the developers of Mosquito as a crappy kind of copy protection: copy our software and we'll send SMS messages to premium rate numbers. Now someone tell me this isn't illegal...
Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
According to the Register, the number dialing out of the game Mosquitos isn't a trojan using the game, it is the game. Some brilliant developer thought this was a good way to punish people who pirate the game, and they built it in as a feature.
Law is whatever is boldly asserted and plausibly maintained. -- Aaron Burr
1) Series 60 is Nokia's "version" of Symbian's OS, so not really the same thing.
2) All Nokia Series 60 phones are "Smartphones".
3) The "virus" is actually trojan, it doesn't distribute itself, the user has to download and install it themselves.
4) When the message is sent, the user is prompted each and every time for permission to access the network.
I'm well aware of the needed synergy between subscriber equipment and network infrastructure. As another poster mentioned, features like cameras and SMS drive up the traffic to the $$$ benefit of the carriers, so that much makes perfect sense as to why such features are developed.
What makes no sense is that if the network coverage is suffering from what it could be, I can't take full advantage of these premium services. I can't send you a picture of my--uh, me if I get a weak or non-existent signal.
Has anyone noticed that newer phones are shaped as pure rectangles? Remember the phones like my ancient, antiquated Nokia 6160 that had a little stub of an antenna sticking out the top? It has better range because of it, but it's not "kewl" so the marketers don't want it. (This came direct from a marketing VP at a major U.S. carrier.) So you drop calls more often so that your phone can look cool. Gee, thanks for that feature!
This same major carrier even ordered the manufacturer to develop a much more cumbersome keypad layout because they didn't want their phone to look too much like a competitor's model, even though the guts are identical. So now you have to contort your fingers to dial rather than dialing by feel because--ta da--a marketing geek decided what you need, rather than asking you. Back to square one, above.
There are other issues impacting the basic handling of calls, such as layoffs and cutbacks in the performance departments of some of the major carriers, as well as some clueless upper managers, that prevent them from ensuring better network performance. That much is beyond the reach of equipment vendors, but both sides suffer when either does not maximize its potential performance.
These computer-like features that will ultimately be used for malware unbeknownst to the user do not improve the phone's performance for me, the forgotten user.
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