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Mabir.A Virus Targets Symbian Phones

Posted by timothy on from the what's-a-good-synonym-for-malice dept.

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?"

9 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. Same thing? by soniCron88 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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?

    Wouldn't an automatic update system serve to make the software more secure?

    --
    Digital Sailor
    1. Re:Same thing? by ManikSurtani · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yep, pretty much, except that I believe the author meant that s/ware should be written with security in mind from the outset.

      On a different note, what I'd loathe to see (but may be inevitable) are goddamn antivirus programs for phones. Imagine those things updating their virus dbs, etc. every time you switch on your phone...

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      -- Manik Surtani
  2. Remember when viruses were cool? by Dancin_Santa · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There was a time when a virus could install itself just be latching onto a 3.5" disk boot sector and infect tons of machines without anyone having the slightest clue as to its existence.

    Nowadays, viruses are so pussified that they need to ask the machine owner to install them. How sad.

  3. Security? by Morlark · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'd say they'll be wanting to make these phones secure, and be sharp about it. Fair enough, these phones with sophisticated OSes are fairly new, and you might expect them to get hit by viruses to start with, but now that the first few viruses have struck the phone companies are going to want to get these phones as secure as possible, so that they can't get attacked so easily in future. Obviously, there's going to be a need to continued updates, as viruses continue to develop and evolve, but more basic levels of protection need to be introduced first.

    --
    Santa's suicide mission go!
  4. Ofcourse they have to be secure. by flubbergust · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why shouldnt the creators make the system more secure? Its their responsibility to make it more secure. What if you have to dial 112 (911 for people in other parts of the world) and you cant? Phones have to be secure. I can live with my Windows box isnt but damned if my phone isnt secure.

  5. Well, I'm not impressed by KonijnenBunny · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I own a Nokia 60-series phone and much to my surprise I encountered the above mentioned predecessor (Caribe/Cabir) in the wild. (Yep, my bluetooth's always on)
    I received over 20 identical messages by Bluetooth messaging, all containing a single application-installation file: caribe.sis I had to approve the reception of the message first before I could view the contents. As I browsed the message contents, a further warning that it contained an application was issued, and I image the standard "not-signed" warning would as well if I'd try to actually install it.

    That's 3 warnings I would have to ignore before the virus is installed. Surely in this day and age anyone's brains would have kicked in and wonder whether it would be a wise idea to install an unknown program sent to you by an anonymous stranger? Mobile-phone virii are all still very proof-of-concept in my book...

  6. Elementary measures by Savage-Rabbit · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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?"

    Not having every single Bluetooth service known to man switched on by default when the phone leaves the factory would be a good start. The first thing I did when I got my new PDA phone was to switch everything off except the BT Headset and File Transfer which I set to Maximum possible security since it wasn't set like that by default. Strictly speaking the FT services should only be activated on a need-to-use basis but I don't carry alot of sensitive information on my PDA phone and what there is I have encrypted on an SD card. That would incidentally be another good idea, if manufacturers were to install some sort of file-vault software as standard. I had to install the file-vault software as an optional software package from the companion CD that came with my phone.

    --
    Only to idiots, are orders laws.
    -- Henning von Tresckow
  7. Re:Want a surefire solution?? I have the answer. by imipak · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Want a surefire solution?? I have the answer. [...] And it ain't pretty. Death penalty for virus writers.

    What a great idea. I'm sure this will work just as effectively as the USA executing alleged murderers - brutal as it sounds, it has at least reduced the murder rate to one of the lowest in the world.

  8. Another FUD from F-Secure by S3D · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This theme is beat to death. So called "virus" require answer "Yes" three times to be installed. The most vocal reporter of these viruses is F-Secure, manufacturer of anti-virus software for symbian phones. Their CEO speaking on one of the previous virus: "somehow, I'm not sure exactly how this virus get installed on my phone" He did't remember answering "Yes" three times ?