New virus spams mobile phones

From the Web Site:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/417066.asp

New virus spams mobile phones

Researchers say it's the first of a new breed; infections currently limited
to mobile users in Spain

By Bob Sullivan
MSNBC

June 6 - Antivirus firms say they've found the first-ever virus with a
payload aimed at mobile phones. "I-Worm.Timofonica" is an "ILOVEYOU"-type
virus with
a twist. After infecting computers, it generates random phone numbers from a
range of known mobile phones in Spain, then sends spam messages at those
phones.
According to F-Secure Inc., there have been about 100 reports of infections
so far, all in Spain.

       THE VIRUS DOES not damage mobile phones. It merely sends annoying
messages to them utilizing the SMS (short message service) system available
on
GSM phones, which are mostly prevalent in Europe. But it serves as a warning
for future bugs, according to F-secure spokesman Dan Takata.
       "Two or three viruses down the road we might see these things taking
out phones," Takata said. A future virus could access a victim's telephone
address
book, for example. Things could get ever worse with new mobile phones, which
are becoming more and more like small computers. They allow Web browsing,
online trading and plenty of other functions that could be used by virus
writers or hackers.

       The "Timofonica" virus spreads just like the Love Bug; it arrives at
computers as a Visual Basic script file attached to an e-mail. When a victim
opens the file, it sends a copy of itself to everyone in the victim's
Microsoft Outlook address book. (Microsoft is a partner in MSNBC.) For each
one of
those messages, it generates a random cell phone number from a block of
numbers known to be used by Spain's telephone service, Telefonica. A short
message
is then sent at each mobile phone.
       The body of the virus contains a series of accusations against
Spanish telephone company Telefonica, including several links to Web pages
which prove
the accusations, according to the virus writer.
       The message in the body of the note, as translated by F-secure,
reads:

       Everyone knows the monopoly Telefónica [the spanish telecom] has but
not so known are the methods it used to get to this point. In the attached
document,
there are some opinions, proofs and web links with more information that
show irregularities in purchases of materials, invoices without suppliers,
unreal
stock, etc. Also it speaks of the extorsions and favoritisms to
industralists, national and international. It also explains why of the
failure in Holland
and what it made to acquire the Lycos portal. There are some related themes
in the web links so that you get a glimpse on the coments, commentaries,
information,
documents, etc. As you will understand, this is very important, and I beg
you to forward this mail to your friends and contacts.

       The virus has a nasty payload, as well - it attempts to delete all
files on the victim's hard drive and performs several other operations that
makes
restoration difficult.

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       According to antivirus researchers Kaspersky Labs, the virus works
only on Windows 98 or Windows 2000 computers on which the Windows Scripting
Host
(WSH) is installed.

Received on Wednesday, 7 June 2000 14:49:59 UTC