Mabir phone worm risk low

Security company Sophos has advised that the risk posed to mobile phone users by the Mabir worm is very low.

"The Mabir worm attempts to spread to other compatible mobile phones via Bluetooth and MMS, but, like all other mobile phone viruses so far, appears to be a case of more hype than havoc," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for UK-based Sophos.

The Symb/Mabir-A worm could affect Nokia Series 60 phones running the Symbian operating system but did not appear to be spreading in the wild, the company said in a statement.

"Mobile devices -- PDAs and cell phones -- have been theoretically vulnerable to viruses and Trojans for some years, but there has been very little malware written," said Cluley.

"The variation in details such as OS version, firmware revision and device characteristics in the mobile arena has resulted in a moving target for virus writers.

"The virus writers seem much more interested in attacking the old faithful target: computers running Microsoft Windows."