Cal State Long Beach students, like college students across the country, are exposed to cell phone viruses. As the number of cell phone users and cell phone viruses increase, more students are exposed to the risk of obtaining one of these viruses.
According to a study published in September 2007, the Education for Applied Research found that 98 percent of undergraduate students have cell phones. As the percentage has gone up, so has the number of students who own “smart phones.”
Smart phones, which are those with Internet access and Bluetooth capabilities, are susceptible to virus infection. InStat.com says that smart phones, as a whole, are “significant and rapidly growing” in the mobile device market.
Phones with Symbian OS, an operating system designed for mobile devices, are the ones most likely to be targeted. Nokia is the largest company that carries this operating system, while Sony Ericsson, Panasonic, Siemens AG and Samsung also have models that carry it.
One exception is Apple’s iPhone. Because “the iPhone is partly software only,” it’s a safer alternative to smart phones that serve as a platform to download software to, according to Engadget.com.
Viruses spread through e-mail attachments, Internet downloads and Bluetooth transfers. A common way to get viruses is by downloading software from a PC or the Internet. A user can also get a virus on his or her cell phone from another cell phone.
Because these viruses don’t automatically install themselves, users usually install them accidentally, as they are typically masked as another program. Some forms can be disguised through regular text messages or multimedia messaging, ringtones, phone security updates, free offers and games.
“About a year ago, a friend of mine mentioned he got a cell phone virus downloading a ringtone from the Web,” said Alberto Alvarez, a junior computer science major. “After his ‘ringtone’ installation, he noticed he started receiving a lot of spam text messages.”
Alvarez, who said he avoids using his phone’s Internet capabilities, has never had a cell phone virus but said he received “messages with weird subject lines” that he automatically deletes as a precaution.
“A couple of months ago I got a message with a weird subject line. It said something like ‘free iPod!’ I giggled when I read it and deleted it without opening it,” Alvarez said.
Viruses can affect cell phones by resetting the phone, slowing its processing speed and reducing the longevity of its battery power.
Even more serious, it can redirect calls to long-distance numbers, create unfamiliar phone charges, delete important phone applications, crash the phone or send mass text messages from the phone without the user knowing.
“It did happen to my sister last year. I don’t know how, but her phone was sending non-stop text message[s] to random people on her phonebook,” said Maricel Paredes, a senior health care administration major. Paredes said she is aware of these viruses and turns off the Bluetooth service on her phone.
“I think cell phone viruses are really ridiculous and unbelievable,” Paredesa said. “We’re so busy and so worried about not catching any viruses on our computer[s] we didn’t even notice that it’s happening on our cell phones.”
“Snoop ware,” another method of phone-hacking, allows hackers to track keypad clicks and record important information.
Microsoft’s Windows Mobile is another type of operating system used by some cell phones. Even though viruses mainly target the Symbian OS, Windows Mobile is not completely risk-free.
“I’m sure that as the world starts to adapt Window[s] Mobile phone[s] there’ll be lots viruses on all phone models,” said Robin Raskin, a Yahoo tech adviser.
According to ComputerWorld.com, police arrested a man in Spain this year, charging him with infecting over 100,000 cell phones with viruses he created.
Cabir, believed to be the first cell phone virus, was created in 2004. By 2005, cell phone viruses became even more harmful, when one virus called Fontal.A reached a new damage standard for mobile viruses.
Antivirus software companies such as Symantec and McAfee both offer services to help detect and prevent cell phone viruses.
