PocketPC virus strikes China

THAT ALL GOOD news stories eventually come true is a common INQ maxim. So for Mcafee's Avert Labs the discovery of a virus which is currently spreading across China is timely.

It proves the point of its recent Mcafee's Mobile Security Report, launched at MWC in Barcelona, which said, "Mobile security incidents may not yet rival the scale and scope of PC threats but they are increasing in volume and sophistication."

Well, the company's wish has just come true because a particularly nasty virus that afflicts Windows Mobile PocketPC handsets and wireless PDAs – known as WinCE/InfoJack – has just been identified by the labs.

It has been distributed with Google Maps, applications for stock trading, and a collection of games. Most worryingly it acts as a mobile security disabler as it disables Microsoft's application signature/certificate checks.

This leaves the mobile device open to other malware being installed silently. Luckliy, Avert Labs says the associated (presumably Chinese) website is no longer available since the cops got to it, so the danger has decreased.

Crucially the infected device’s serial number, operating system details and other information was being sent to the virus author's web site.

Mcafee refers to the malware as a Trojan but given that it can install itself to the mobile phone or PDA when an infected memory card is inserted, it sounds like a virus to the INQ.

What Mcafee hopes will happen is that mobile network operators – in order to raise customer confidence – will buy into its 'Risk Management' offering which is apparently a modular three-prong approach to protecting users from such malware.

The only fly in the ointment is that most Microsoft based handsets use Windows Mobile not Windows Pocket PC, so the threat might not be as great as it first appears. A Symbian version would be truly worrying.

Even so, it's pretty good scare story. µ

L'Inq
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