Trojan For Mobile Phones Identified by McAfee

In today’s culture where mobile phones also double as PDAs which also double as PCs, hackers have apparently also found a way to extend their reach and infect mobile phones with malware which we originally thought can only be caught on a PC or laptop.

McAfee’s Avert Labs has just identified a new kind of malware which is specifically aimed at mobile phones. The owner of the phone receives an SMS message which says something along the lines of “We’re confirming you’ve signed up for our dating service. You will be charged $2/day unless you cancel your order at our Web site”. The unsuspecting user, for fear of getting charged, would then click on the link and cause a Trojan to be downloaded into their phone. This Trojan allows hackers to control the handset and use it for malicious activities such as denial of service attacks, installing keylogging software and stealing personal account information. This last bit is to be noted carefully, especially by people who use their mobile phones to access their bank accounts, credit card information, or institutions such as PayPal which has recently offered mobile access for their users.

This phenomenon has been coined as “SMiShing”, which is short for “phishing via SMS”.

Experts warn to be wary of this kind of activity, and that, should anyone receive a suspicious message, treat it as one would treat a suspicious email: by not clicking on the links provided, not providing any sensitive personal information, and deleting the message as soon as possible.

Via PDAStreet

In today’s culture where mobile phones also double as PDAs which also double as PCs, hackers have apparently also found a way to extend their reach and infect mobile phones with malware which we originally thought can only be caught on a PC or laptop.

McAfee’s Avert Labs has just identified a new kind of malware which is specifically aimed at mobile phones. The owner of the phone receives an SMS message which says something along the lines of “We’re confirming you’ve signed up for our dating service. You will be charged $2/day unless you cancel your order at our Web site”. The unsuspecting user, for fear of getting charged, would then click on the link and cause a Trojan to be downloaded into their phone. This Trojan allows hackers to control the handset and use it for malicious activities such as denial of service attacks, installing keylogging software and stealing personal account information. This last bit is to be noted carefully, especially by people who use their mobile phones to access their bank accounts, credit card information, or institutions such as PayPal which has recently offered mobile access for their users.

This phenomenon has been coined as “SMiShing”, which is short for “phishing via SMS”.

Experts warn to be wary of this kind of activity, and that, should anyone receive a suspicious message, treat it as one would treat a suspicious email: by not clicking on the links provided, not providing any sensitive personal information, and deleting the message as soon as possible.

Via PDAStreet