Mabir.A Virus Targets Symbian Phones

adennis writes "Exploiting bluetooth and weaknesses in the OS, the Mabir.A virus, like its predecessor, targets the version of the Symbian operating system running on Nokia Series 60 handsets. Since Symbian is the dominant smartphone OS, found on phones made by Motorola, Siemens, Sony Ericsson Panasonic and Nokia, this virus could have great impact. Will mobile OS companies, like desktop OS makers, have to start an automatic update system, or will the OS creators have to start making their software secure?"

Comments

Repeat after me...

[jcostom]

I will turn off bluetooth or set my phone's visibility to off.

I will turn off bluetooth or set my phone's visibility to off.

I will turn off bluetooth or set my phone's visibility to off.

There, was that so hard? If for some reason, you refuse to do that, don't accept files from other devices unless you specifically know they're ok. You know, just like you do with your email.

Not much threat?

[Richie1984]

I had to read quite a way down TFA before I actually came to the information detailing what the virus actually does.

"At this point, mobile viruses are more of an irritant than a serious security...the messages that Mabir sends do not contain any text message, only the info.sis file.

So it seems this virus is more of a proof that they can be spread via phones, which we already knew, rather than an attempt to actually damage or corrupt the OS. Hopefully it'lll persuade manufacturers to work more on their phone security, rather than obvious new features for the user.

Re:Mabir.A ?

[soniCron88]

A little dated, but:
What's In a Name?