Mobile Viruses Are Not A Huge Threat Right Now, But The Danger Can Grow in The Future

chillibreeze writer — Alok Tripathi

In the present scenario, the difference between a mobile and portable computer is almost lost. How much at risk are they from viruses? Is the threat huge? Find out how fatal it can be.

On the surface, conditions seem perfect for a smartphone virus outbreak.

First, anyone can write programs for them. There are now hundreds of downloadable games and utilities, written mostly by third party vendors.

Secondly, smartphones are well connected. With Bluetooth, infrared, text and MMS (multimedia messaging service), they can pass on data, or malicious software, to any other phone in the world.

There is certainly plenty of scope for malicious smartphone software to be written, and spread, very quickly through the mobile world. So where is the mobile virus outbreak the doom-mongers have been predicting? Well, as of now mobile viruses are not a huge threat. It is in its infancy and has the potential to be a large problem, but currently the ones we see now have not spread very far.

The main reason is that we haven't seen a critical mass of the smartphone devices for these viruses to travel to.

“Malware” Reality

We cannot deny the existence of malicious mobile software out there.

Mostly written as proofs of concept, several pieces of “malware” have hit the headlines recently. We managed to track down a few for the Symbian Series 60 operating system, which runs on Nokia smartphones.

One of these was Skulls, which some users have mistakenly downloaded and installed from an otherwise normal looking website. Once it is on your device it will slowly disable the functionality of your main applications like contacts, calendar, e-mail, and simultaneously replace all of the icons on the desktop of the phone with a skull.

Skulls is targetted at the Symbian Series 60 operating system

Commwarrior is a more virulent type of attack, which spreads from one phone to another via Bluetooth and MMS (multimedia messaging service). It operates in the background. It will target various people in your contacts, select a mobile number at random and then send them an unsolicited message.

Protection

Our handsets are not melting in our hands and the skies have not fallen yet. Viruses and worms have not terrorised the smartphone world like they have the PC world. Why?

Perhaps the biggest barrier to a mobile virus outbreak is the button.

Unlike in the PC world, no application that tries to enter your phone can come in without permission from the user.

If your phone was a house, all incoming programs would have to ring the bell, and wait for you to let them in.

Malware will not infect your phone unless you accept it

Any application that you install on a Symbian or a pocket PC device will prompt you through a series of dialogue boxes that will pop up on the screen, saying 'Do you wish to install this - Yes or No?'

So unless you have explicitly downloaded that file and you know what it is, or somebody's transferred it to you, the wisest decision would be to reject it.

In case a piece of “malware” does con its way in through the front door, there are now ways to check if something bad has got in. Mobile specific anti-virus software can search and destroy any “nasties” on your phone.

One of the problems of locking down the operating system is that you will stifle innovation in the software development community Douglas Overton, Wireless Data Services Global

Mobile phone manufacturers are also planning to add more internal protection, according to Symbian's David Wood.

"We're going to put something in place which can be likened to protection on individual rooms. In the same way that your gardener may be allowed in your conservatory but he has no business in your bedroom, so some applications may have access to the telephony but not to your contacts database."

Safe or Stifled?

Prevention is better than cure. If it wanted to, the mobile phone industry could kill any future virus problem before it happened. Manufacturers could lock down the sensitive parts of the operating system: the parts that control making phone calls, sending texts and spending the user's money. By doing that, even if a virus got into your phone, it would not be able to send itself to other phones.

This may seem an obvious solution, but there’s a very important balance you've got to strike here. "It is important to allow new applications to have access to telephony and other aspects of the billing system because they're going to do things which end-users are going to find very useful."

Something like a third of devices in the field have no password protection at all Magnus Ahlberg, UK MD Pointsec

One of the problems of locking down the operating system is that you will stifle innovation in the software development community.

"Many of the more innovative programs or games will make use of the radio functions of the device - for instance, multi-player gaming, location-based service applications."

Mobile viruses currently are very rare but, as smartphones become more common, the threat will grow.

The question is whether the mobile industry can learn from the PC industry's mistakes?

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—About our writer: Alok writes for chillibreeze.

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