Mobile viruses may be underreported

Mobile viruses may be more prevalent than originally thought, according to security firm McAfee.

Speaking to vnunet.com at the Infosecurity show in London, Greg Day, European security analyst at McAfee, said that he was alerted to the issue during an informal conversation with a major European network operator at the show.

"I mentioned the lack of mobile viruses and he gave me a look and said we'll see a lot more of them soon," said Day. "I asked him for some data but got a 'not on your life'."

Mobile viruses have been around in proof-of-concept for some years now. They were first created by the Russian 29A hacking group and sent to antivirus researchers.

Since then there has been little overt activity, and most outbreaks have been limited because users have actively to accept the software onto their mobile phones.

However, the nightmare scenario for network operators is a mobile worm that damages phones or causes large numbers to dial premium rate numbers.

See also:

Panic spreads over 'killer' mobile phone virus

Government steps in to calm fears of death by phone  17 Apr 2007

F-Secure backtracks on mobile 'virus'

Security firm caught on tape  28 Apr 2006

Major mobile virus attack 'imminent'

Mobile firms gear up slowly for virus attacks  27 Apr 2006

Bluetooth trojan leaves mobile users out of pocket

$5 charge for leaving your phone open to attack  25 Apr 2006

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