A Virus Writer Tests the Limits in Cellphones | NYT | 1.24.05
Marcos Velasco, a 32-year-old Brazilian software developer, enjoys movies with special effects, maintains a vast collection of antique computers in his home and is the proud father of two young children and one mobile phone virus, which he named after himself: Velasco.
Computer security experts around the world have given his virus and its variants more toxic-sounding names like “Lasco.A,” “Symbos_Vlasco.A” or simply “the Lasco virus.” They are also calling it stupid.
“We think he’s dangerous,” said Mikko Hypponen, the director of antivirus research for a Finnish company, F-Secure, “because he publicly posts working mobile malware that any clown anywhere can easily download and use.”
Mr. Velasco’s creation is essentially a piece of computer code that takes advantage of the short-range radio frequency technology called Bluetooth, which is installed on many common handheld devices, especially cellphones.…
All the Cabir and Lasco variants aim at devices using a version of the Symbian operating system, which is collectively owned and licensed by companies including Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung. Symbian is one of the three major platforms, along with Microsoft’s PocketPC and the PalmSource OS, now competing for dominance in the mobile market.…
At least for now the PalmOS is “safe.” And, here I finally went for integration of my cellphone and PDA…
