What me worry?

Mike Masnick over at techdirt links to this ZDNet report of the first smart phone worm, dubbed Cabir. A little scary -- it is a Symbian based worm that spreads via bluetooth... an interesting development -- proximity to a disease carrier can infect your phone. However Tuxedo Jack, posting on Slashdot points out that "This still relies on a user to open it..."

Masnick writes "...it's a noteworthy moment, and we can expect many more smartphone worms and viruses to be on their way. It won't be long until you'll need anti-virus software for your phone as well, or you may discover that your phone starts calling people in your phonebook randomly." He also expresses a healthy dose of skepticism, "Of course, with that in mind, it kind of makes you wonder if it wouldn't make sense for anti-virus firms to fan the flames of just such a virus to open up a new line of business for themselves."

It is important to note that, as John Oates at The Register put it, "Anti-virus groups received the worm from its authors but it is not yet 'in the wild'." So don't expect to pick up this infection at your next networking party, but be aware that more like this are likely to be headed our way.

Despite the fact that this is a "proof-of-concept" virus, William Hungerford over at his blog, Ouch! My Brain Hurts! points out that Symantec has already published instructions for removing the worm. Kind of lends credence to Masnick's conspiracy theory...

PC Pro in the UK interviewed Denis Zenkin, Head of Corporate Communications for virus fighter Kaspersky Labs, and obtained a lot of interesting information about the source of the virus:

'Kaspersky Labs received the very first sample of the worm from an unknown person in a message sent from an anonymous e-mail address. It could be the creator of the Cabir or at least a "proud" member of the computer underground.'

The Moscow-based company says it appears the worm was written by someone using the nickname Vallez, known to belong to an international virus writing circle called 29a.

This group has in the past been responsible for the first .Net, and 64bit Windows viruses among others.

PC Pro also points out that, "according to McAfee, mobile viruses have been with us since September 2000, with the Liberty Horse Trojan, with at least eight other Trojan, SMS and other types having been discovered to date."