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First Symbian OS virus to replicate over MMS
Shachaf writes "A new virus, CommWarrior.a, is the first to replicate over MMS (Multimedia Message Service). From the article: 'Multimedia Message Service (MMS) is a more advanced version of the Short Message Service (SMS) familiar to users of GSM based handsets around the world, and allows rich content such as pictures, sounds, video, and applications to be sent as well as text.', and '"With MMS messages typically costing between $0.25 and $1.00 CommWarrior could prove expensive to anyone unlucky enough to be infected by it. As the virus runs silently in the background it could be quite some time before the user becomes aware of the potentially hundreds of MMS messages that have been sent," said Aaron Davidson, CEO of SimWorks.'"
The first virus... but lucky there is already anti virus software out there for your p910 :)
It's a good thing I have no friends then.
All of my coworkers laugh at me for using such a simple phone with only basic features and services. Guess there are some benefits afterall.
I wonder if this falls under the protection of the service provider. It seems to me that they shouldn't be able to charge the user for a vulnerability on their part, but what companies should do and what they actually do are very different things.
Four roommates. No microwave. You do the math.
I'd like to know why those MMS and SMS are priced the way they are?
Why wont anyone allow a flat-rate service? I mean.. it's data, but Im sure the cost of building the cellular networks should be paid off by now (excluding 3G).. at least here in sweden. (dont know how it's worldwide)
So, the question is...
Are the customers reponsible for all the charges incurred from this virus? Being that it probably uses a flaw in the phone's OS itself.. how is this going to work?
Nobody is going to want fancy new fangled smart-phones if they get infected with viruses and run up your phone bill monthly..
Excuse me, I don't mean to impose, but I am the ocean
...message, on an already well known-format, shouldn't it be possible for service providers to block the messages through the MMS MX handlers? And/or simply not bill the customer for the sum of messages sent with that format. Of course, isolate them from the network if possible (remove their permission to emit MMS messages at the MX) until the malware can be removed from their device. Just a thought. Doesn't really seem right to charge users for something like that, espicially the less savvy who might not know-any-better.
Informatus Technologicus
What a remarkable "coincidence".
I never put any credence into the ativirus companies writing viruses conspiracy theories but, that one's just too fishy.
-- Nothing unusual happened today
Anti-virus software is a sign of platform's maturity... a sort of an OS Bar Mitzvah. There are probably Nokia engineers working on new worms, tightly collaborating with their anti-virus engineers.
Here's an old school idea that doesn't get viruses and doesn't cost nearly as much.
Ha! When I was your age, "old school" meant using a rotary dial, pulse landline.
Get a Windows CE phone :)
It seems to me that since most people get their phones for free when they sign up for a plan, the cell phone companies should bear the cost of this virus. This cost will inevitably be passed on the the concumers. My point is that it should be the responsibility of the cell phone companies to keep their products and their networks free of viruses. Dwight Yokel BEEP BEEPING his neighbor in the next trailer over, should not be expected to pay and money or attention to this sort of concern or worry about extra charges on his bill because his cell phone company runs a flawed service.
someone you didn't expect to get it from.
this needs manual installation by the 'victim'!
not very likely to spread too far either - a lot of people don't have even the mms settings in place.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
What was Paris's #, I need to send her a mms message.
From TFA:
CommWarrior periodically sends MMS messages to randomly selected contacts, including a copy of itself and one of several predefined text messages designed to encourage the recipient to install the application.
Doesn't really seem this is Symbian's fault, CommWarrior just behaves like a malicious application. The user obviously has to install it and then run it to get 0wned.
Of course, some sort of sandbox environment like in Microedition Java would have been a better design, but I guess Symbian simply wasn't built with something like this in mind. I know Nokia is pushing a model where only certified developers will be allowed to write applications that access sensitive functionality (dialing numbers, sending messages, etc.), but this is not a great solution. It will drive the cost of applications way up, and shaft all the small app developers, because only the big guys will have their apps signed by Nokia.
When will people learn the more features something has the more holes it has in it. My cellphone can take calls and text, doesn't even display colour but if I have a car accident or I get injured it'll do the job just as well as any "3G super mega hyper magical edition" phone.
Maybe people need to learn that the home phone is better for calling friends and mobiles are mostly for emergencies and when someone needs to urgently contact you..
I like muppets.
There is a link. It's at the top: CommWarrior.a.
Can someone clue me in as to what this SMS and messaging is all for?? If you have a phone...why send text messages over it? It's a phone...call and talk to them....??
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Perhaps I mis-RTFA or just don't understand MMS, but whenever my mobile is active it causes amplifier noise (talk or send/receive SMS). CDMA or GSM. Computer speakers, car stereo, whatever. Wouldn't a constant transmission be noticable?
I mean, the RFCs for MIME came out, what twelve years ago? Injudicious MIME implementations have been vectoring trojans ever since.
So, you'd think they'd have taken a lesson from a decade of history and limited the power of multimedia attachments.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
...but the text in the MMS says: "Your cell phone clock may be wrong. Would you like to keep it accurate?"
Modern phone operating systems have security features built in where the application installer will only allow *signed* applications to be installed. A virus / trojan wouldn't get signed because it has to go through an acceptance program.
The first Microsoft smartphone product had this feature turned on - normal joe's couldn't install software that hadn't been signed (the signing process usually costs $$ although recent efforts have reduced the cost).
Symbian *has* the same functionality. In fact, most commercial symbian software should now be signed, see Symbian Signed Symbian also has the functionality to disallow users to install unsigned programs. It is just that this feature is turned off by default (at least on the phones that I have seen).
Theoretically, all an operator needs to due is send an OTA message to turn on signing verification. This is easily done on a windows mobile and presumable via WAP push on Symbian. We probably will see operators start to turn on signing requirements by default on symbian phones (hopefully with the capability for users to turn it off so they can install freeware if they so choose).
All too often, a virus costs somebody time. They are willing to accept it as just a lost of that. Instead, society needs to start accepting that all virus represent lost money. Once they do that, they will start looking for alternatives to where 99.999 % of the virus occur at.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
If you have a internet connection for which you pay per used bandwidth and you get a virus, do you get refund? You get 0wned and someone uses you as a spam relay, you get black-listed. Should you get refunded?
No. You should make sure that you have up to date AV running and you have firewall installed and configured. Even if the terminal is more widely spreaded than the internet connections are, and to even more clueless users, it's up to users to make sure that their system is secured.
Yes, there are ISPs which disconnect infected clients from their network and will not forward virus infected emails, but some of them don't care.
Of course there will be companies to provide AV and FW applications. Of course they wont be free. But then again, who can blame them. If you want to get it for free do it your self, GPL it and make sure that everyone can enjoy it.
-- Reality checks don't bounce.
With most providers, voice calls are a lot more expensive than SMS. In many countries, this price difference is significant enough to suffer the relative inconvenience. Messaging also has the somewhat unintended feature of being quiet to send, so it's more polite to use in public.
But you knew that anyway.
Unfortunately I had to review my opinions about people having to be stupid to accept unknown software.
Well, anyways there is times when people except messages from certain providers. Like when people are arrive to a new country they are quite accustomed to a welcome to a new country messages.
As an example I know a case where one of our customers did accept Cabir over bluetooth because it was send with a sender name of a local operator. Unfortunatily I can't see a difference in a MMS case. User that thinks that he's getting updates/welcome message for his current country propably will accept the message.
And for the last part.... at least in Finland most new user will have MMS settings in place (i.e. they may get them automatically depending on the operator).
.... it's coming
The telecom operators are already filtering these infected MMS messages.
The only problem is indeed the cost of sending these messages. I do hope that operators are not charging customers for these undelivered messages.
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Warning: Slashdot may contain traces of nuts.
In most of europe cellphones are essentially premuim rate numbers. Unlike the US where the cellphone holder pays for every minute, europeans place the cost burden on the person making the call.
Typically these rates aren't too bad, but when you start calling from one network to another they can get VERY high. In the UK I would pay close to 1$US/minute to call from orange -> tmobile.
Text messages are generally very cheap and practical. Plus they are better for communicating certain types of information since you have a record of it. Not to mention the privacy issue of being able to text when you are in a meeting at work or in a resturant.
On top of that you can IM with people on their computers.