Mobile phones hit by virus

A new virus “Timofonica” worm has been identified which sends unwanted e-mails to mobile phones. The virus originated in Spain and sends an e-mail message in Spanish . It appears to have been developed as a protest against Spain’s telecom giant, Telefonica.

The Timofonica virus (a play on the company’s name - the word “Timo” means ‘trick’ in Spanish), e-mails mobile phones connected to Spain’s Movistar mobile phone network, according to anti-virus companies based in Russia and Finland which identified the virus.

The worm spreads by using Microsoft Outlook to send itself to all addresses in an address book, and for each infected message sent it also sends a message to a randomly generated telephone number at the Movistar’s web site. That address is an SMS (Short Message Service) gateway that sends SMS messages to mobile phones.

The message sent to mobile phones translates as “Note: Telefonica is cheating you.” The message sent to other Outlook users further criticises Telefonica and asks recipients to open the attachment for more information. Opening the attachment then triggers the spread of the virus.

The anti-virus companies say they believe Timofonica is the first virus to attack mobile phones, although it does not spread through phones.

In the recent Love Bug virus, there were concerns in the West following the realisation that there were no laws in the Philippines (where the Bug originated) suited to prosecuting a person responsible for a computer virus. However, it is not clear that a person attacking mobile phone systems can be prosecuted in the West under laws which were designed with the computer hacker in mind (although this particular virus is only spread by computer systems, not phones).

In the UK, the Computer Misuse Act would normally be used to proseucte a person responsible for a computer virus. The Act leaves open the interpretation of the word "computer" for the courts to decide. While most would argue that more complex mobiles are a form of computer, the lack of definition does leave the issue open to debate.

If mobile viruses become an issue, and the responsible individual is found, it might be possible for a company in Telefonica’s position to sue for defamation, but this may not be financially viable if the individual is not worth suing. Individuals receiving such messages to their phones might also argue that a company in Movistar’s position is negligent in failing to block the unwanted messages.