A group of underground virus writers has showed off what is claimed to be the world's first worm that can spread on advanced mobile phones, but security software companies say the virus had no malicious code attached.
The worm, named Cabir, was sent to security software firms Kapersky Lab of Russia and U.S.-based Symantec by a member of 29a, a group of virus writers from the Czech Republic and Slovakia who pride themselves in creating "proof of concept malicious viruses", Kapersky Labs spokesman Denis Zenkin said.
"This is the very first version of a network worm which propagates via mobile phones," he said on Wednesday.
The worm is designed to work in smartphones running on Symbian and Series 60 software, Symantec said on its Web site. This software is used to power millions of Nokia phones, such as the popular 6600 model. Nokia was not immediately available to comment.
The worm is not regarded as dangerous because even if it spreads it carries no code that destroys files or executes other damaging operations, the security software firms said. The virus attempts to jump from phone to phone by using the handset's wireless short-range Bluetooth connection. It scans the environment for other Bluetooth-enabled devices.
Once it has found one, it sends itself disguised as a security file. The file must be accepted by the mobile phone owner and then installed before it can propagate.
Mobile viruses will become more dangerous when they can spread without human intervention, said Matias Impivaara, business manager for mobile security services at Finnish security software firm F-Secure.
"The main (turning) point will be when the virus-writing community knows the software well enough ... to find holes," he said.
"The information about the (Symbian) operating system is very close to the hands of the virus writers. ... (Cabir) could be a trigger to start developing these ideas earlier."
A spokesman at London-based technology firm Symbian said that, unlike personal computers, it was not possible to penetrate the software of its smartphones without approval.
"But we can never say it's not going to be possible. Smartphones have been designed ... as open, programmable networked devices," he said, adding that users should be careful before accepting to install new software.