Cabir source code posted online
Dec 28 2004 - 05:30 PM ET | Security
Get ready for a lot of similar mobile phone viruses--the source code for
Cabir has been
posted online on a message board. Virus writing group 29A was responsible for the virus and is also responsible for the source code leak:
bq. "It was a 29A member who wrote the original version of Cabir. We think it was planned to publish the source code in the next edition of the group's electronic journal. However, it looks that someone has already got access to the code, and now it's public. This will lead to a lot of new versions of Cabir, which has already been detected in the wild in 7 countries," [Gaspersky Lab analyst Aleks] Gostev said.
Since June, when the virus was first detected, 7 different but similar versions have been detected. The only ill effect of the current software is reduced battery life, but with the source code now in the wild, analysts fear more malicious behavior will be added.
It's interesting to note that the Cabir virus is one of the first computer programs that travels like biological viruses--through close physical relation. Since Cabir replicates via Bluetooth, most users catch it by simply being close to another phone that has it. Since Cabir mimics the real world behavior of biology, it has caught the interest of epidemiologists.
