Mobile phone malware warning

Security experts have warned smartphone owners to be wary of malicious attacks, especially those with handsets running the Symbian operating system.

Kaspersky Lab said that though mobile malware had really only seriously affected Russia in the past, people in the rest of the world were now at an increased risk.

Trojan-style programs that send SMS or text messages to a specific number with instructions to transfer money from the bank account of the handset's owner have been spotted in circulation, Kaspersky said.

"The primary aim of the cybercriminals that distribute these Trojans is to make money," says David Emm of Kaspersky.

"Until recently, many people thought that malicious programs that send SMS messages without the user’s knowledge were purely a Russian phenomenon. Now we can see that it is becoming an international issue that takes advantage of the growing use of mobile communications," Emm continued.

Despite the recent emergence of Apple's iPhone and several new smartphones running the Windows Mobile operating system, Symbian remains the most common smartphone OS.

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