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Cell Phone Nightmare New Breed of Virus Hits Handheld Devices

A new virus that affects cell phones with text capabilities, handheld computers and pagers has been intercepted by security experts. (Art Today) The Associated Press

W A S H I N G T O N, June 7  Computer security experts intercepted a new virus designed to attack cell phones with text capabilities, posing a threat to handheld computers, pagers and phones that are exploding in use worldwide.

The virus, similar to the Love Letter virus  also called ILOVEYOU  that recently clogged network computers, was written to target phones on the Telefonica cellular network, three leading antivirus firms said Tuesday. The virus is called Timofonica. In Spanish, timo means prank."

Telefonica, owner of Spains largest cell phone network, said it had received no reports of problems from its customers. And the antivirus experts suspect they may have caught the virus before it could send prank messages to cell phones.

Much of the focus in fighting cyberterrorism so far has been on stopping viruses targeted at home computers, where data can be deleted or altered, or at major computer networks, where viruses can flood networks with repetitive actions and grind them to a halt.

New Types of Attacks

The security experts say the Spanish virus  which could be altered easily to attack the millions of pagers and cell phones being used worldwide  foreshadows the beginning of attacks on other handheld devices like Palm Pilots and Microsoft Pocket PC computers.

Virus writers are starting to target handhelds and mobile phones, said Mikko Hypponen, chief scientist for the Finland-based F-Secure antivirus company. Thats whats significant about this virus."

According to F-Secure, the virus called Timofonica is spread in a traditional manner  as an e-mail attachment. When a recipient opens the infected attachment, the virus plus a message critical of Telefonica is sent to each e-mail address in his or her address book.

The twist is this virus also sends a text message to a randomly selected cell phone on Telefonicas network each time it spreads. It doesnt infect the phones themselves, but they get prank messages, Hypponen said.

Can Clog Network

If altered to send large numbers of phone text messages, the virus could clog a network, experts warned.

Ive asked the researchers to be extremely aware that someone will probably try to replicate this in America. It wont be hard, said Vincent Gullatto, director of the AVERT antivirus lab at the San Jose, Calif.-based Network Associates, which makes McAfee antivirus software.

Telefonica said the company doesnt believe the virus was sent to any of its phones. We have no complaint from any customer about it, said spokesman Ed Holland.

However, both F-Secure and Kapersky Lab, another antivirus company based in Russia, reported receiving complaints about the virus. In one case, a single corporate user inadvertently sent out 500 copies of it.

The antivirus firms obtained a copy of the malicious code and created a software solution to stop its spread.

Vincente Coll, a representative in Spain for Kapersky Labs, said the recent spate of virus attacks using e-mail attachments made users more vigilant, and that should help stem the spread of Timofonica. The paranoia of ILOVEYOU made people not trust attachments, Coll said.

But Gullatto said as the operating systems for handheld devices become more sophisticated to allow the creation of miniature automation programs known as macros, the potential to wreak havoc will grow.

Automation is the key. Once macros start working for phones, then well have a problem, he said.

David Chess, an antivirus researcher with IBMs Thomas J. Watson Research Center, said software designers can learn from the lessons of earlier viruses to improve protection of handheld devices.

We know about PC viruses and we have the opportunity to apply that knowledge to these new platforms, he said.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. http://abcnews.go.com/sections/tech/DailyNews/virus000607.html

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-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), June 07, 2000