Smartphone games hit by virus
Source: Agencies |
June 6, 2010, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
HACKERS have planted viruses in video games for smartphones running on Microsoft Corp's Windows operating system, according to a firm that specializes in securing mobile devices.
The games - 3D Anti-Terrorist and PDA Poker Art - are available on Websites that provide legitimate software for mobile devices, according to John Hering, CEO of San Francisco-based security firm Lookout.
Those games are bundled with malicious software that automatically dials premium-rate telephone services in Somalia, Italy and other countries, sometimes ringing up hundreds of dollars in charges in a single month.
Those services are run by the programers who built the tainted software, Hering said on Friday.
Victims generally do not realize they have been infected until they get their phone bill and see hundreds of dollars of unexpected charges for those premium-rate services, he said.
Hackers are increasingly targeting smartphone users as sales of the sophisticated mobile devices have soared with the success of Apple Inc's iPhone and Google Inc's Android operating system.
Officials with Microsoft could not immediately be reached for comment.
The games - 3D Anti-Terrorist and PDA Poker Art - are available on Websites that provide legitimate software for mobile devices, according to John Hering, CEO of San Francisco-based security firm Lookout.
Those games are bundled with malicious software that automatically dials premium-rate telephone services in Somalia, Italy and other countries, sometimes ringing up hundreds of dollars in charges in a single month.
Those services are run by the programers who built the tainted software, Hering said on Friday.
Victims generally do not realize they have been infected until they get their phone bill and see hundreds of dollars of unexpected charges for those premium-rate services, he said.
Hackers are increasingly targeting smartphone users as sales of the sophisticated mobile devices have soared with the success of Apple Inc's iPhone and Google Inc's Android operating system.
Officials with Microsoft could not immediately be reached for comment.
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