Users installing apps like Google Maps should be wary – new malware is targeting mobile phones. Besides compromising your information, users are left open to extortion.

From Newsfactor.com: Dave Marcus, security research and communications manager of McAfee Avert Labs, said that a Trojan named WinCE/InfoJack is often bundled with legitimate installation files and then distributed online. Marcus said that it was a technique oft used with PC malware but is new when it came to attacks on mobile platforms.

What’s dangerous about the Trojan is how it shuts off other forms of security, sending the infected device’s information to the owner of a now-defunct Web site in China. It blocks other security protection, allowing the malware to be updated if need be or opening the door to other people to put malware on that phone.

Symbian users aren’t off the hook, either. The SymbOS/Kiazha malware attacks Symbian Series 60 phones and was designed to extort money from users. A fee of about $7 would be charged to unlock a phone taken over by the malware, to be paid via the QQ instant messaging network in China.

The malware is part of a “toolkit” of malicious software called MultDropper. Marcus said that whoever created the suite obviously tested it thoroughly before letting it off into the wild.

It’s certainly a dangerous trend, this propagating of malware over mobile phones, and sooner than later, mobile phone anti-virus software is going to become as essential as the equivalent for PCs. If it isn’t already.

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Entry was posted on Thursday, March 6th, 2008 at 9:09 am under Cell phones, Security.

Read more entries by Erna Mahyuni.
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