31 January 2009, 02:36

Symbian trojan steals money from mobile accounts

According to media reports, Kaspersky is trying hard to damp down the effects of a warning about a new trojan for Symbian-based smart phones. Earlier this week, Kaspersky warned of a trojan which was able to transfer small sums, of between 45 and 90 cents, by texting. To do so, it makes use of a prepaid service from an Indonesian mobile phone provider. The malware, which has been christened SMS.Python.Flocker, spreads via Bluetooth and is written in Python.

A successful infection requires an active Bluetooth connection and multiple clicks to confirm receipt of the trojan, as well as the presence of a Python interpreter on the phone. Australian media are now warning of a wave of trojans heading for Australia, where, they say, a single call is sufficient to spread the trojan. Australian News website Couriermail quotes a Kaspersky spokesperson as saying "It would only take one call to an Australian mobile from an infected handset for the virus to spread"; Kaspersky, reportedly, deny ever having made the claims cited.

(djwm)

« previous | next »

Print Version | Send by email | Permalink: http://h-online.com/-739887