While computer users have been acutely aware of the threats of viruses for some time, a relatively new phenomenon is the encroachment by technological criminals into the mobile phone sphere. The crux is that viruses and trojans have moved from purely being a nuisance to becoming a profitable enterprise for their developers. Whilst in computers this took around fifteen years; developers are experiencing greater levels of success with mobile networks and handsets.
Mobile spam is rapidly becoming profitable, once a phone number is obtained it is much easier for viruses to be passed on; a phone number is a contact that is almost always accessible; in comparison to viruses passed through emails that must undergo a spam filtering process and virus checking software. This consistent contact means that malware placed upon mobile phones can be extremely lucrative.
2008 has seen a sharp rise in the number of mobile phone viruses. A spokesperson for the security firm Network Box reckons that approximately 10 viruses have been released in the last four months. The process however is still in its infancy; it is believed that there are only around 400 virus variants for phones in comparison to around 700,000 for computers. This relatively low number should not be ignored however.
The increase of applications on mobiles such as email and messaging services make the opportunities for viruses diverse. A major worry is the MMS or mobile messaging services that are believed to be a major carrier of viruses. More lucrative however has been the spreading of trojans that take advantage of premium messaging services. Fundamentally, they are able to send high cost text messages once they have been installed.
As well as trojans, spam is becoming an increasingly large problem. Recently in China it is believed that around half the phones in the nation received numerous commercial texts in a twenty four hour period. One statistic even claims that mobile users in China receive around 8 spam messages every day. But what can be done to prevent this spam? In the UK it should be possible to halt any spam messages by texting stop to the source of the messages.
With many of these viruses requiring manual installation to become active, advice from mobile networks has been to be vigilant in what software you install on your phone. With companies beginning to develop protective software it may be time to invest in some form of defensive measure. If the rates of spam and mobile viruses in China are anything to go by, an influx to this country could well become apparent.
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