Sophos warns of malicious payload in game download
Security experts are warning Windows Mobile phone users to beware of downloading games to their devices, after it emerged that a Russian-speaking hacker has been uploading versions of a particular game with malicious Trojan programs hidden inside.
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, said yesterday that Windows Mobile users playing the 3D Anti-terrorist Action game have reported that their phones are making expensive calls to international destinations.
"It appears that a Russian-speaking hacker has taken the game 3D Anti-terrorist Action, embedded his Trojan horse inside it, and uploaded it to Windows Mobile download sites on the web," he wrote in a blog post.
"Presumably they are hoping to skim some money from the expensive premium rate phone calls. Sophos detects the malware as Troj/Terdial-A, and advises all mobile phone users to exercise caution when downloading and installing new applications."
While relatively rare, mobile phone viruses have long been heralded as the 'next big threat' to enterprises.
Cluley explained that criminals have been trying to make money from mobile malware for the past six years or so.
"For instance, back in 2004 we saw the Mosqit Trojan that could infect Nokia phones running Symbian, forcing affected devices to send text messages to premium rate numbers," he said.
"Like this latest report, the hackers hid their Trojan inside a cracked version of a mobile phone game."
Source:-
V3.co.uk.
