Vendors Claim Mobile Viruses Worsening

Two vendors of mobile anti-virus products made separate claims this week that attacks on mobile devices are becoming more serious.

F-Secure said earlier this week that the Commwarrior B virus has made its first appearance in devices used by a company. The vendor did not name the company that was struck, but claimed that "several dozens of employees" of the company received infected Bluetooth or MMS transmissions of the virus.

About 20 employees actually opened the message and, as a result, infected their devices, according to F-Secure. The virus attacks Symbian-based devices.

Another vendor, Trend Micro, claimed there was a spike in Bluetooth-borne mobile viruses during July. It claimed that three new viruses and five new variants of existing appeared. One of the new viruses, SYMBOS_DOOMED, is particularly pernicious because it makes no change to the phone's display as it infects the device, according to Trend Micro.

As with F-Secure, Trend Micro said the viruses it reported all attack Symbian-based devices. Both vendors sell products aimed at combating viruses and other attacks on mobile devices.