Virus writers turn their attention to mobile phones. (ABC TV) The first computer virus that can infect mobile phones has been discovered by researchers in France.
Anti-virus software developers say the virus, called Cabir, appears to have been developed by an international group to show that no technology is safe from attack.
Cabir infects the Symbian operating system that is used in several makes of mobiles, notably the Nokia brand, and propagates through the new bluetooth wireless technology that is in some new mobile phones.
If the virus succeeds in penetrating a mobile, it writes the inscription 'Caribe' on the screen and is then activated every time the phone is turned on.
It is able to scan for phones that are also using the Bluetooth technology and is able to send a copy of itself to the first handset that it finds.
Anti-virus software developer F-Secure says the discovery of Cabir is proof that the technologies are now available to create viruses for mobile phones and that they are now known to the writers of computer viruses.
Anti-virus experts have been warning for months that mobile phone viruses are set to multiply, given the increasingly diverse uses of mobile phonesSOURCE