Commwarrior virus threatens mobile phones via MMS messages

Posted on 8 Mar 2005 at 16:45

Finnish security expert F-Secure says it has discovered the first virus that spreads via multimedia messaging services, or MMS, sent by mobile phones.

The virus, known as Commwarrior, is far from a simple proof of concept and has already been discovered in the 'wild'. There are already two variants.

Currently, Commwarrior is slow in spreading, but it demonstrates how the convergence of devices creates an ever wider field for virus writers.

The worm sends itself in an infected MMS message over a wireless Bluetooth connection to other devices within range. It also looks through the address book and sends itself on to those listed there, whether as a MMS message or as an email attachment.

'A MMS virus can potentially go global in minutes, just like email worms do,' wrote F-Secure's Jarno in the company blog.

Commwarrior runs on the Symbian Series 60 platform used on Nokia phones, so other operating systems will not be affected.

F-Secure suspects that the virus may have Russian origins as it contains text that says "OTMOP03KAM HET!" which roughly translates as 'No to braindeads'. The security industry was first alerted when a
Serbian discussion forum warned of a virus spreading among Symbian Series 60 platform phones by randomly sending MMS messages automatically to an infected phone's contacts list.

F-Secure says its Mobile AntiVirus can already detect Commwarrior and advises mobile phone users not to install unknown applications arriving in MMS messages and keep Bluetooth in undiscoverable mode.

Author: Matt Whipp