Blackberry users told to look out for Zeus Trojan

BLACKBERRY USERS are being warned to look out for a variant of the Zeus Trojan on their devices.

A variant of the well known Zeus Trojan has been seen on mobile phones running the Blackberry OS, with Trend Micro identifying it as BBOS_ZITMO.B. Like its desktop counterpart, there are few visual indications that a Blackberry has been infected. The Trojan removes itself from the application list to try to stay undetected.

Trend Micro has found that upon successful installation the Trojan quite literally phones home, to a UK number. Afterwards the Trojan can view, delete and forward SMS, block calls, change the administrator on the device and block phone numbers. It allows the hacker to change the telephone number the device sends all the data to in the event that it gets shut down.

Variants of the Zeus Trojan have been previously detected for the Symbian and Windows Mobile operating systems, exhibiting similar behaviour.

The aim of the Zeus Trojan on smartphones is to monitor users' private information and in particular when they conduct mobile online banking.

As smartphones gain popularity, users will face the same security threats faced by PC users. The question is whether a walled garden approach will be enough to protect users. µ