Mobile phone virus spreads to 20 countries
AFP, Helsinki
A virus that spreads from cell phone to cell phone has made its way to 20 different countries around the world, a Finnish anti-virus expert said on Friday. "The Cabir virus has now been detected in 20 different countries... including in the US, China and Russia... We found the virus in Luxembourg two days ago and in the Netherlands two weeks ago," said Mikko Hyppoenen, head of anti-virus research at Finnish Internet security firm F-Secure. The virus, which was first discovered last June, spreads only over bluetooth, a short-range radio technology for Internet and mobile devices. "Once you have one infected phone it will try to beam itself to other compatible phones... This virus is only traveling when people travel the world," Hyppoenen pointed out. The virus does not spread easily however, since the recipient has to first accept a request for his or her phone to connect with a nearby phone, then accept to download a file from that phone, amidst warnings that the file could be infected.
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