Smartphones vulnerable, but no major outbreaks of viruses seen
May 22, 2009
Smartphones - wireless phones with high speed internet access that run on computer software - are just as vulnerable to viruses as regular PCs, but so far there have been no major outbreaks of computer bugs, according to researchers at Northeastern University.
The reason, the researchers said, is that the market for smartphones is fragmented right now, with different operating systems running on a wide range of phones.
But the researchers warn that viruses will pose a serious threat once a single mobile operating system's market share grows sufficiently large. This could happen fairly soon due to the 150 percent annual growth rate of smartphones.
Marta Gonzalez, one of the authors of the study, said once a single operating system becomes common, we could potentially see outbreaks of epidemic proportion because a mobile phone virus can spread in two ways.
A Bluetooth virus can infect all Bluetooth-activated phones within a 10-30 meter radius, while Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) viruses spread using the address book of the device.
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