Cell Phone Viruses

Posted by : Unknown Saturday, June 29, 2013

INTRODUCTION:

They’re not just for the computer or internet any more. Virus, Worms, hackers and spam, oh my! Could they be invading your cell phone? Even the data entered into cell phones can be stolen or infested. Cell phone had automatically started dialing numbers in address book. And helps someone to see every number you call and listen to your conversations -- and steals financial information. "In worst cases, they will trigger the phone to send off some form of message to people in the subscriber's contact list, which will lead to an inflated cell phone bill."

Such threats could include filling a phone’s TXT message box with unsolicited advertisements, changing default settings and gaining access to private information. Bluetooth connections were recently infected with a virus called “Cabir”, which jumped to other Bluetooth-enabled cell phones and automobiles in the proximity.

Also a couple of months ago a hacker swiped the phone numbers of celebrities on Paris Hilton’s cell. Yet, the mobile thief never even touched her Sidekick smart phone. Instead the hacker retrieved her cell’s recently dialed calls and incoming call list by hacking onto T-Mobile's server, which stores Hilton’s phone information.

Antivirus experts believe that the problem of mobile viruses is more likely to happen when customers connect their phones to their computer to personally “upload data” or “connect” to the web and “download” content. This method makes you more susceptible to security threats, because it opens your cell phone up to “internet viruses” and “hackers”.

The mobile phone has quickly evolved from a simple black box to something more akin to a mini multimedia centre. However, like with the PC, as these devices become more advanced, with increased connectivity, the potential for security threats from viruses and hacks become greater,” With their variety functions, cell phones and “Blackberry’s” are becoming more like, “mini portable computers”, especially to small-business owners, many of whom are putting the data of their lives on these devices. This is why consumers should start protecting their cellular phones as they would protect their home or office computer from “internet viruses”.

HISTORY:

First cell phone worm emerges

o Date: 15 June 2004, Time: 18:26.

o NewScientist.com news service

o Name of the Worm : “Celeste Biever”

The first known cell-phone virus called “cabir “appeared in 2004 and didn't get very far. “Cabir “has no malicious capabilities and affects only a small slice of "smart" phones that run on both the sophisticated “Symbian” operating system and have a “Bluetooth” connection-- a group of “malware developers” called “29a” created Cabir to prove it could be done. Their next step was to send it to “anti-virus researchers”, who began the process of developing a solution to a problem that promises to get a lot worse. In 2000, the virus Timifonica forced infected PCs to send text messages to phones. "But this is the first virus to spread from phone to phone.

Unlike most computer worms, Cabir does not exploit a vulnerability in the Symbian operating system. "It exploits the way the phone is supposed to work.

Cell-phone Virus Basics:

A cell-phone virus is basically the same thing as a computer -- an unwanted Executable file that "infects" a device and then copies itself to other devices But whereas a computer virus or worm spreads through E-mails attachments and Internet downloads, a cell-phone virus or worm spreads via Internet downloads, MMS (multimedia messaging service) attachments and Blue Tooth transfers. The most common type of cell-phone infection right now occurs when a Cell phone downloads an infected file from a PC or the Internet, but phone-to-phone viruses are on the rise.

Current phone-to-phone viruses almost exclusively infect phones running the Symbian Operating System. The large number of proprietary operating systems in the cell-phone world is one of the obstacles to mass infection. Cell-phone-virus writers have no Windows-level market share to target, so any virus will only affect a small percentage of phones.

Infected files usually show up disguised as applications like games, security patches, add-on functionalities and, of course, pornography and free stuff. Infected text messages sometimes steal the subject line from a message you've received from a friend, which of course increases the likelihood of your opening it -- but opening the message isn't enough to get infected. You have to choose to open the message attachment and agree to install the program, which is another obstacle to mass infection: To date, no reported phone-to-phone virus auto-installs.

SMART PHONE:

Unlike many traditional Cell Phones, smart phones allow individual users to install, configure and run applications of their choosing. Think of a daily task and it's likely there's a specialized, pocket-sized device designed to help you accomplish it. keep your calendar and address book, entertain you, play your music, give directions, take pictures.

Contents in the Nokia 9200 smart phone:

Here's a list of some of the things smart phones can do:

Send and receive mobile phone calls
Personal Information Management (PIM) including notes, calendar and to-do list
Communication with Laptop or Desktop computers
Data synchronization with applications like Microsoft Outlook and Apple's ICal
E-mail
Instant Messaging
Applications and configurations that the user can do him/herself
Play audio and video files in some standard formats

BLUETOOTH

Definition:

“Bluetooth is a wireless, hands-free solution that transfers files automatically and contact each other when they come into range“. It is a two-year old Technology, which is a short-range radio Technology that allows wireless data transmission between various computing and communication devices up to a distance of 10meters or 30feet and offers data transfer rates up to 1MBPS.

It is named after HAROLD BLUETOOTH a 10century Danish king who united Norway and Denmark with a short-range radio technology that allows voice and data. Blue tooth uses the FHSS (Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum) protocol as wireless LAN standard. Frequency Hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) uses a “narrow band carrier” that changes frequency in a pattern know to both transmitter and receiver.

Two possible Bluetooth networks available

· PICONET

· SCATTERNET

PICONET:

When we bring Blue tooth radio with in the range of each other they connect and form a piconet. One becomes master and other a slave .The master controls all the traffic in a piconet . Blue tooth radios in a piconet frequency hop together. Each piconet can have up to seven simultaneous or more than 200 active slaves.

SCATTERNETS:

Scatter nets occur when multiple masters exist in range of each other. A master radio may also be a slave radio on another piconet. Each piconet is hopping with a different sequence sharing the same as 2.4GHz band. Because of the different hopping sequences, there is very little chance that any master will hit a channel at the same time as another master.

Symbian operating system:

“Symbian operating system is designed so that files can be exchanged over the Bluetooth connection.”

Symbian OS calls itself the "global industry standard operating system for smart phones." Two of the leading cell-phone manufacturers, “Nokia” and “Sony Ericsson”, both use Symbian OS on all of their smart phones. Series 60 is the most popular Symbian platform and is used on millions of phones worldwide. As of October 2004, Symbian devices account for 63 percent of all mobile devices sold worldwide.

Eg: phones running Symbian Series are 60 v7, like the Nokia 6600 and 7610

How They Spread:

Phones that can only make and receive calls are not at risk. Only smart phones with a Bluetooth connection and data capabilities can receive a cell-phone virus.

These viruses spread primarily in three ways:

· Internet downloads - The virus spreads the same way a traditional computer virus does. The user downloads an infected file to the phone by way of a PC or the phone's own Internet connection. This may include file-sharing downloads, applications available from add-on sites (such as ring tones or games) and false security patches posted on the Symbian Web site.

· Bluetooth wireless connection - The virus spreads between phones by way of their Bluetooth connection. The user receives a virus via Bluetooth when the phone is in discoverable mode, meaning it can be seen by other Bluetooth-enabled phones. In this case, the virus spreads like an airborne illness. According to TechnologyReview.com, cell-phone-virus researchers at F-Secures

U.S.

lab now conduct their studies in a bomb shelter so their research topics don't end up spreading to every Bluetooth-enabled phone in the vicinity.

· Multimedia Messaging Service - The virus is an attachment to an MMS text message. As with computer viruses that arrive as e-mail attachments, the user must choose to open the attachment and then install it in order for the virus to infect the phone. Typically, a virus that spreads via MMS gets into the phone's contact list and sends itself to every phone number stored there.

In all of these transfer methods, the user has to agree at least once (and usually twice) to run the infected file. But cell-phone-virus writers get you to open and install their product the same way computer-virus writers do: The virus is typically disguised as a game, security patch or other desirable application.

New Virus Can Spread Over MMS

A new Trojan for Symbian Series 60 phones, nicknamed CommWarrior, has just been discovered which can spread itself by sending an MMS to any number in your contacts list (phonebook). Though accessing the MMS functions of the phone is nothing new and is regularly seen in normal Symbian Applications (It is sometimes used to pay for the application), it is the first time a piece of malware has used MMS to spread itself. CommWarrior, like most Symbian Malware, can also spread itself over Bluetooth.

Simphones – (it is a corporate unit in cell phone industry) have announced that they have already received a report of CommWarrior in the wild (their Anti virus has been updated to deal with CommWarrior) and the fact that it uses MMS makes it far easier to spread wider distances. When Symbian Malware was restricted to spreading over Bluetooth it only had a range of 10m to find another phone to infect. However an MMS can be sent any distance and in some cases can be sent between operators both nationally and internationally.

Another factor to take into account is that the user of a targeted phone will receive the MMS containing the Trojan from someone they know. This means they are more likely to install it than if they had received it over Bluetooth from an anonymous user. CommWarrior also uses a variety of different messages such as software updates and pornography to try and encourage people to install it.

However, as with most Symbian Malware, the CommWarrior Trojan can't do any real damage to your phone. It can, however be quite costly since the infected phone is sending out an MMS which is charged to your account.

TYPES OF VIRUSES:

Cabir. A
First reported: June 2004
Attacks: Symbian Series 60 phones
Spreads via: Bluetooth
Harm: none

Gavno. B

First reported: August 2004

Attacks: symbian series

Spreads via: Bluetooth

Harms: Dials numbers in your address book

Skulls. A
First reported: November 2004
Attacks: various Symbian phones
Spreads via: Internet downloads
Harm: disables all phone functions except sending/receiving calls
Commwarrior. A
First reported: January 2005
Attacks: Symbian Series 60 phones
Spreads via: Blue tooth and MMS
Harm: sends out expensive MMS messages to everyone in phonebook (in course of MMS replication)
Locknut. B
First reported: March 2005
Attacks: Symbian Series 60 phones
Spreads via: Internet download (disguised as patch for Symbian Series 60 phones)
Harm: crashes system ROM; disables all phone functions; inserts other (inactive) malware into phone.

Fontal. A
First reported: April 2005
Attacks: Symbian Series 60 phones
Spreads via: Internet download
Harm: locks up phone in startup mode; disables phone entirely
More information (including disinfect ion):

Protecting Your Phone:

The best way to protect yourself from cell-phone viruses is the same way you protect yourself from computer viruses: Never open anything if you don't know what it is, haven't requested it or have any suspicions whatsoever that it's not what it claims to be. Even the most cautious person can still end up with an infected phone.

Here are some steps you can take to decrease your chances of installing a virus:

Turn off Blue tooth discoverable mode:

Set your phone to "hidden" so other phones can’t detect it and send it the virus. You can do this on the Bluetooth options screen.

Check security updates to learn about filenames you should keep an eye out for: It's not fool-proof -- the Commwarrior program generates random names for the infected files it sends out, so users can't be warned not to open specific filenames -- but many viruses can be easily identified by the filenames they carry. Security sites with detailed virus information include:

E Secure
McAfee
Symantec

Some of these sites will send you e-mail updates with new virus information as it gets posted.

Install some type of security software on your phone:

Numerous companies are developing security software for cell phones, some for free download, some for user purchase and some intended for cell-phone service providers. The software may simply detect and then remove the virus once it's received and installed, or it may protect your phone from getting certain viruses in the first place. Symbian has developed an anti-virus version of its operating system that only allows the phone's Blue tooth connection to accept secure files.

The mobile device management vendor Smart Trust operates a platform that allows cellular providers to send over-the-air (OTA) virus software updates and patches that can be both proactive and reactive to security threats.

The Damage Done:

Viruses can send your entire address book as a text file via Blue tooth to anybody that comes close by, send porn MMS to your whole contact list, MMS messages typically cost money to send, so you're actually paying to send a virus to all of your friends, family members and business associates and corrupt your software so that new software has to be loaded on to the phone. A virus might access and/or delete all of the contact information and calendar entries in your phone. On the worst case scenario end, it might delete or lock up certain phone applications or crash your phone completely so it's useless.

Conclusion:

Cell-phone viruses are at the threshold of their effectiveness. At present, they can't spread very far and they don't do much damage, but the future might see cell-phone bugs that are as debilitating as computer viruses.

In day to day modern world all the peoples are likely to entertain the music and media channels thru via cell phones, so these kind of voracious tasty peoples are having the nature of creating or damaging the system via different interested things available in the market, so we must care full about the unwanted things occurring in your desktop or screen of your phone.

To prevent virus and security attacks, chip vendors, subscriber identity module (SIM) card manufacturers and mobile-handset companies are already engineering new security features for future editions of cell phones.