'MMS Bomber' mobile virus infects millions in China

S60 3rd edition phones under attack

2 April 2010 16:42 GMT / By Dan Sung

A mobile virus has run riot in China since February causing financial loss to owners of infected devices. The "MMS Bomber" has made its way into over a million smartphones running Symbian S60 3rd Edition and largely affects Samsung and Nokia handhelds.

The virus, which was first picked up back in February, comes disguised as an application which, once installed, begins to send out URL links to further download versions via MMS to everyone in your phone book. Not cheap.

Relatively advanced for mobile malware, MMS Bomber digs itself in like a tick by disabling the phone's system management program. You're not highly likely to ever see it in Europe, unless you happen to have a lot of friends in China, as a an anti-virus has already been released.

All the same, expect to see more and more of mobile malware as phones and cyber criminals both get smarter.

Full tags

Phones, Mobile phones, Malware, Viruses And Malware, Symbian, S60, Nokia, Samsung, MMS, China