HELSINKI, Finland-Anti-virus company F-Secure Corp. said it discovered a new Trojan computer virus for mobile phones running the Series 60 version of the Symbian operating system. The company said the bug replaces menu icons on the phone with a skull-and-crossbones symbol, and locks up the phone and prevents it from booting up.
The news is the latest in a string of recent reports about viruses developed for mobile phones.
F-Secure said the virus, called “Extended Theme Manager” by “Tee-222,” has been distributed on some Internet sites. The firm said the virus would be difficult to remove unless the user had some kind of file management software on the device. F-Secure sells anti-virus software for Symbian-based mobile phones and said it would shortly offer an update to counteract the virus.
Series 60 is a version of the Symbian operating system developed by Nokia Corp. A Symbian spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.
As wireless devices become more advanced, industry observers expect such malicious code to become more prevalent. Indeed, several months ago a similar Trojan virus for Series 60 Symbian devices was distributed through a downloadable game. After installation and during play, the illegal game caused the phone to send text messages to premium-rate numbers, reportedly in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, without the user’s awareness. Symbian said at the time that the user may not know that the sends had occurred without checking the sent files or the phone bill.
Symbian and other phone vendors and software companies have launched certification programs to protect against such viruses. The programs, like the Symbian Certified effort, evaluate wireless applications and certify those that operate as intended.
