Initially discovered in February 2010, the mobile virus, “MMS Bomber,” has been spreading quickly in China, primarily on Nokia and Samsung devices.
Installed as an application, the virus automatically sends MMS containing a malicious URL to random mobile phone numbers without user permission or awareness.
Mobile security provider, NetQin Mobile, who claims the first capture of the virus, shows that at least 100,000 mobile phones have been infected up to now according to internal statistics. The true number infected is reported be in the millions and The National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team/Coordination Center of China (CNCERT/CC) has sent an alert mobile users.
“Once infected, the virus will disable the system management program on the mobile phone, and mobile users will not be able to uninstall the virus,” says Dr. Zou Shihong, Chief Scientist at NetQin.
With mobile devices becoming increasingly complex and the number of available applications increasing daily, security on mobile devices has become critical as the devices become a prime target for hackers.