Hundreds affected with malicious mobile phone virus (will you be safe from it?)
Posted by Simpur | Posted in Mobile Phones, News, Viruses | Posted on Tuesday, March 24, 2009
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As mobile phones are becoming more and more popular nowadays, they have become a great target for irresponsible virus programmers who either do it for fun, or use them as tools for advertising and spamming (with you forking the bill).
DSTCom recently learnt that 800 of their subscribers were infected by the 'Hati-Hati' mobile phone virus, which caused traffic congestion in their network due to its continuous spamming. The virus makes multiple calls and sends SMS without the subscriber knowing, resulting in service delays for them, and the possibility of getting high phone bills.
DSTCom advised the affected subscribers to reformat their phones within a week, or will have to take necessary action by either charging them for the SMS and calls their phones make or suspending their SMS services.
Will you be safe? Find out more about the 'Hati-Hati' virus, and make sure your phone doesn't get infected..
1. What is the ‘Hati-Hati’ worm virus?
This is a self-replicating Trojan that causes mobile handsets to send high volumes of SMS to international or unknown numbers without the owner’s knowledge. In some instances, DSTCom has detected handsets spamming up to 40,000 times an hour.
2. What handsets are affected by the virus?
Handsets having Symbian OS are found to be more prone to having the ‘Hati-Hati’ virus. Handsets with file folder applications or memory card capabilities are also unsafe from the virus.
3. How does a handset get infected by ‘Hati-Hati’?
There are a number of ways this could happen. The following are but a few examples:
a) Downloading of files, pictures or tunes from untrustworthy sites
b) File-sharing via exchange of memory card, blue-tooth or infra-red
c) Buying already infected 2nd hand handsets
4. What I do if my handset is infected by ‘Hati-Hati’?
Hati-Hati gives very little indications that it has infected your handset and this adds to its dangerous nature. Subscribers of networks affected by SPAM SMS may experience a lesser quality of service, for example:
a) Delays in receiving or sending SMS
b) Network congestion when attempting to make calls
c) Slower broadband speed
d) Shorter battery life of the handset itself.
If you suspect your handset of being infected or if you receive a notification from DST that your hand-set is infected, you should take prompt action by formatting your handset and/or the memory card attached to the hand-set.
To protect its valued subscribers and to ensure quality of service is maintained, DST is obliged to remove the outgoing SMS service from all affected subscribers.
(Hati-Hati Virus Information provided by DSTCom)
DSTCom recently learnt that 800 of their subscribers were infected by the 'Hati-Hati' mobile phone virus, which caused traffic congestion in their network due to its continuous spamming. The virus makes multiple calls and sends SMS without the subscriber knowing, resulting in service delays for them, and the possibility of getting high phone bills.
DSTCom advised the affected subscribers to reformat their phones within a week, or will have to take necessary action by either charging them for the SMS and calls their phones make or suspending their SMS services.
Will you be safe? Find out more about the 'Hati-Hati' virus, and make sure your phone doesn't get infected..
1. What is the ‘Hati-Hati’ worm virus?
This is a self-replicating Trojan that causes mobile handsets to send high volumes of SMS to international or unknown numbers without the owner’s knowledge. In some instances, DSTCom has detected handsets spamming up to 40,000 times an hour.
2. What handsets are affected by the virus?
Handsets having Symbian OS are found to be more prone to having the ‘Hati-Hati’ virus. Handsets with file folder applications or memory card capabilities are also unsafe from the virus.
3. How does a handset get infected by ‘Hati-Hati’?
There are a number of ways this could happen. The following are but a few examples:
a) Downloading of files, pictures or tunes from untrustworthy sites
b) File-sharing via exchange of memory card, blue-tooth or infra-red
c) Buying already infected 2nd hand handsets
4. What I do if my handset is infected by ‘Hati-Hati’?
Hati-Hati gives very little indications that it has infected your handset and this adds to its dangerous nature. Subscribers of networks affected by SPAM SMS may experience a lesser quality of service, for example:
a) Delays in receiving or sending SMS
b) Network congestion when attempting to make calls
c) Slower broadband speed
d) Shorter battery life of the handset itself.
If you suspect your handset of being infected or if you receive a notification from DST that your hand-set is infected, you should take prompt action by formatting your handset and/or the memory card attached to the hand-set.
To protect its valued subscribers and to ensure quality of service is maintained, DST is obliged to remove the outgoing SMS service from all affected subscribers.
(Hati-Hati Virus Information provided by DSTCom)
