Mabir.A spreading around through MMS and Bluetooth

Mabir.A spreading around through MMS

An enhanced variant of the mobile devices based worm Cabir has been discovered by the makers of popular antivirus applications in the market. The difference in this variant compared with the original version is that Mabir.A as it is being called spreads not only through the original way of Bluetooth connectivity but also through Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) based messages. The makers of security application for these mobile devices released this information today.

Makers of popular Anti-Virus F-Secure has said that the new variant is aimed at the Smartphones, which are becoming rather popular in the recent times. And once again, the devices powered by the popular Symbian platform are being targeted. Worse news is that the author of this latest worm seems to have used the source code of Cabir, which was leaked intentionally on the Internet by its original developer.

Like the original variant, Mabir.A uses the Bluetooth connection to search for vulnerable devices in the surrounding and tries to send a copy of itself. In addition, it also tries to send itself to other users using SMS and MMS replies to received messages.

Many security application developers have released their versions of the Anti-Virus software for this growing market of mobile devices. If the trends continue, the market is expected to grow for a long time to come bringing in additional revenues for these companies. What is bad however is the fact, that consumer is the biggest sufferer in the process, as he would now have to worry about his mobile devices in addition to the computers and laptops.