A 28 year old man has been arrested by Spanish police and charged with creating and distributing malware that infected an estimated 150,000 mobile phones, according to reports.
Commwarrior spreads via Multimedia Messaging Service by sending a message to other devices within Bluetooth range. If the recipient accepts the incoming message — which poses as a new game, ring tone, driver or even Symbian update — his phone is infected.
Although most security vendors have predicted an increase in mobile malware, those forecasts have not panned out. “There isn’t a common operating system,” said O’Brien in explaining the low threat level posed by cell phone viruses and worms. “Phones are not like PCs in that they don’t have a universal operating system. That makes [mobile] worms a much harder sell to hackers.”
We can expect to see more and more of these especially since cell phones are increasingly being used for identity verification and even for payment.
[Spanish police pinch cell phone hacker]
[tags]cell phone, cellphone, mobile phone[/tags]