An Australian company has taken the lead in fighting the Cabir mobile phone virus by developing anti-virus software to protect millions of phones around the world from the potentially disastrous new bug that we reported on last week.
Brisbane based TSG Pacific has responded immediately to the emerging threat of mobile phone computer viruses with anti-virus software to protect Nokia, Motorola and Sony phones from the Cabir threat.
The Cabir virus appears to have been created by a worldwide virus-writing group calling itself "29a" and was released only days ago.
Gavin Knight, CEO of TSG Pacific, said,
"The virus infects some newer mobile phones and spreads using the phone's built-in bluetooth function to wirelessly hitch a ride to nearby phones. The virus masquerades as a security product and takes control of the bluetooth browser to identify and infect other vulnerable phones within range.
This is the first mobile phone virus, but it won't be the last. Mobile phones today are at least as powerful as PC's 10 years ago, and often have faster and more transparent network services that could allow viruses to spread.
We anticipated this type of virus almost two years ago, so we've been able to offer a solution very quickly. Our anti-virus software is ready to handle most new viruses which will almost certainly use the same techniques to infect, takeover and spread."
The antidote for Cabir infected phones detects the virus, disinfects the phone and updates wirelessly to protect against future viral threats. It is available for download at http://www.handango.com.