MalwareGoesMobile-ComputerScienceatUVA.pdfVIP

MALWARE G O E S MOBILE BY MIKKO HYPPONE Computer viruses are now airborne, infecting mobile phones in every part of the globe. Security companies, cellular operators and phone makers are moving to quash these threats before they spiral out of control he day the computer security community had anticipated for years finally arrived in June 2004. I and other researchers who study malicious forms of software knew T that it was only a matter of time until such malware appeared on mobile phones as well. As cell phones have evolved into smartphones— able to download programs from the Internet and share software with one another through short-range Bluetooth connections, worldwide multimedia messaging service (MMS) communications and memory cards— the devices’ novel capabilities have created new vulnerabilities. Scoundrels were bound to find the weaknesses and exploit them for mis- chief or, worse, for criminal gain. Sure enough, three summers ago security ex- perts found the first rogue program written spe- cifically for smartphones. Dubbed Cabir, it was a classic proof-of-concept virus, clearly created to 70 S C I E N T I F I C A M E R I C A N N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 6 INC. , COPYRIGHT 2006 SCIENTIFIC AMERIC AN INFEC TIO of one smartphone by malicious software— malware—