Viruses on Your Mobile Phone?

A reader asks: Can my mobile phone get a virus?

Mobile phones have evolved to the point where they're practically mini-computers, and with computers inevitably come viruses. Sure enough, cell phone viruses have been around for a few years, since at least 2004, though early viruses have largely been "proof of concept" projects to show that phones were vulnerable to attacks via internet downloads, messaging services, or Bluetooth connections.

Of course, it's only a short step from proof of concept to being "in the wild," and sure enough a handful of cell-phone viruses have hit handsets since the first, "Cabir," arrived. The viruses are mostly transmitted via Bluetooth but can also be sent via MMS. They arrive in the guise of come-ons like "download this free ringtone!" which are designed to trick you into willingly installing the virus or trojan horse on the phone. (Unlike many PC viruses, it is currently impossible for a cell phone virus to install itself.) But there's some good news: All of the known cell phone viruses affect phones with the Symbian operating system, which is mostly found in the U.S. only on Nokia handsets along with a few Samsung models and a smattering of other lesser-used handsets.

Note also that smart phones running Palm or Windows Mobile software may also be vulnerable to a PDA virus, but these are extremely rare in the wild. See the linked article for more information.

While cell phone viruses sound like a hoax, they are indeed real and I've seen phones that have been compromised by them. Some of these viruses, like Fontal.A, are very debilitating and can wreck the phone entirely. Fixing them usually involves performing a hard reset to completely wipe and reformat the phone's memory, or if your phone is still operating, downloading a mobile antivirus app like F-Secure's Mobile Anti-Virus. If your phone runs Symbian, you might consider installing that application as a preventative measure (or pick another one from this list), and turn off Bluetooth "discoverable" mode, so other infected phones won't try to transmit viruses to it. And, as always, use common sense when answering prompts (like the one in the photo) that your cell gives you.