The Hindu : National : Virus threat to PCs through cell messages

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 29, 2006

National

National

Virus threat to PCs through cell messages

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: ``Blended'' threats have made an appearance in India with a virus threatening personal computers through text messages (SMS) on the cell phone. Victims receive an SMS message on their mobile phone, thanking them for subscribing to a fictitious dating service. The message states that the subscription fee will be automatically charged until the subscription is cancelled at the online site. Users who visit the site to unsubscribe from the service are prompted to download a Trojan bot. The site does not attempt to exploit any vulnerability; instead, the attacker provides instructions to bypass the Internet Explorer security warning prompt.

``There has been much talk of security risks associated with mobiles for years and they are now becoming reality. As mobiles have become an essential part of our everyday lives, they are an extremely attractive lure for criminals who want to exploit their huge user base. The concern of a daily charge is enough to make even the least PC-savvy person take action to ensure they have `unsubscribed' — and thus, unwittingly get tricked into downloading malicious code,'' said an official of Websense Security Labs.

``Using a web security solution is the first line of defence for any PC user so that they don't access the infected website. But this particular incident shows just how difficult it is to prevent such a sophisticated social engineered attack using both mobile and web,'' he added.

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