Spanish police have arrested a man suspected of writing
and distributing
mobile phone viruses.
Spanish police say they arrested a 28-year-old man in Valencia
following a seven month investigation.
The man is accused of creating and spreading over 20 different
variants of the
Cabir and
Commwarrior worms, which attempt to infect mobile phones
running the
Symbian operating system.
Embedded inside the worms alleged to have been written by the
man are references to "Leslie", which is said to be the name of the
suspect's fiancée.
Spanish police claim that as many as 115,000 mobile phones may
have been struck by the malware, which can potentially crash users’
phones and destroy data.
"Mobile phone viruses are not nearly as common as the malware
that strikes Windows desktops on a regular basis, but they are just
as illegal in their intent. They cause real harm disrupting
business and personal communications as well as destroying and
stealing sensitive data," said Graham Cluley, senior technology
consultant at internet security software firm Sophos.
The well established Cabir worm can be spread using Bluetooth
short-range wireless technology.
Multi media messaging worm in the wild >>
Symbian mobiles targeted by three Trojans >>
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