Mobile threats

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Ross Cormack believes the problem will continue to grow.

It is entirely possible that a viruses will come along that goes to your mobile phone and send an SMS to everyone on your contact list," Hayati says.

If a virus spreads across a network and then every phone on the network starts sending SMSs to everyone else, you can imagine what that will do to the operators' network, and then there are the costs associated with that. It could create congestion.

So far it has not been easy for mobile viruses to propagate themselves across the network, and as soon as someone figures out how to do that, we'll have our first serious upset.

"It could be today, it could be tomorrow," he adds. "The technology is there to make it happen. People think this is a threat of the future, but the technology is here today and we already have over 200 viruses targeted at the mobile phone, and the 201st could be the one that really spreads and plays havoc.

Despite a lack of industry debate about mobile viruses, operators are aware of the problem and many are looking at ways of tackling it. Omani mobile operator Nawras is just one operator that is taking the issue seriously. The company filters MMS passing through its network, and has already detected and protected its users from an attack, according to Ross Cormack, CEO, Nawras.

"When we built our network, we put filters on the multimedia messaging service centre (MMSC)," he says.

There was an attack in this region last year called CommWarriorMMS - the MMSC managed to protect against that. What was happening was that people were catching it on their Bluetooth. I think in the future we've got to watch out for it in the same way as the fixed internet.

While this was not a severe attack, it could indicate worse to come. "It wasn't a large problem, but you can see that this was an instance that might be an issue in the future. It only affected a few customers; we put a warning on the website showing how the particular virus could be caught and how to remove it," Cormack adds.

"This isn't a huge problem today, but it's right to think about it now so we can combat it in the future. We must be very careful going forward. I can foresee that we will be updating our mobile handsets in future in the same way that we update our desktops and laptops with protection.

But while Nawras is working to combat the problem, Cormack also recommends that end-users remain vigilant. In particular, he advises Bluetooth users to be careful about accepting files from strangers.

A lot of people leave their Bluetooth on, a lot of people are quizzical about who's available to chat," he says. "If you're unaware, it's very easy just to accept a file and then you find it's a problem for your device. I think people should be very aware and only accept files from other Bluetooth users whom they know."

Raising awareness

While mobile viruses are a worldwide problem, the Middle East is particularly at risk. The region has mobile penetration rates that exceed many other parts of the world, while awareness of the problem is less. For companies such as McAfee, a big part of the challenge is raising awareness, according to Hayati.

"It is not easy, the region has not been hit by anything major yet and often people don't react until the certain attacks have occurred. It's like insurance - people don't see the need to invest until after the disaster happens."

It is important that mobile users, operators, handset manufacturers, vendors and security companies, work together to combat the threat posed by mobile viruses, according to Hayati. "Everyone should be speaking to the mobile users and explaining to them what the risks are," he says.

"A lot of PCs come out of the box with protection on them, but this is not the case with most mobile phones, so there are a lot of things the manufacturers and operators can do in order to raise awareness.

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