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Helsinki (pte017/14.01.2005/10:20) - A hybrid mobile phone virus that is being dubbed as the most sophisticated "mobile malware yet" has been discovered by experts. As the New Scientist http://www.newscientist.com reports, Lasco.A spreads via Bluetooth and can infect smartphones running the Symbian operating system. The virus arrives as an executable file called "velasco.sis" and, once installed, automatically tries to send itself to other phones within Bluetooth range. However, the risk of infection remains extremely slim, experts say.
Lasco.A is based on an earlier mobile phone worm called Cabir.H. However, like many other desktop computer viruses, the program not only spreads automatically, but also infects other .sis files on a host handset. In general, worms spread themselves by simply replicating, whereas viruses spread by hiding themselves in a file. "This is the first mobile virus to have multiple ways of spreading," said Mikko Hyppönen, chief research officer at Finnish anti-virus company F-Secure. "I guess you could compare it to a Microsoft Windows virus."
Theoretically, users could infect other mobile phones by sharing infected .sis files, such as games, between handsets. According to Hyppönen, even though there have been no reports of phones being infected by Lasco.A outside of test laboratories to date, the program has a good chance of spreading. This is due to both the program's ability to use multiple tricks to proliferate and the fact that the author of the virus has created a Windows program that allows anyone to insert Lasco.A into .sis files.
However, according to some experts, it is unlikely that viruses such as Lasco.A will cause a major outbreak. "It's fairly rudimentary," said Graham Cluley, chief technologist of the UK anti-virus firm Sophos. "We're not expecting anything." According to Cluley, Lasco.A only has the ability to infect sophisticated phones in close range of one another- within 10 metres. Furthermore, users have to agree to install the program for it to work. "There are lots of barriers," he added.
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