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When It Comes to Viruses, Smartphones Can Be Dumb

by Kendra Cunningham on May 30, 2009 at 11:27 AM

According to the National Science Foundation (NSF), computers could cease being the only technology susceptible to viruses. Researchers at Northeastern University suggest that, as mobile networks continue to develop, cell phones could become the next mass-market to be targeted. Marta Gonzalez, one of the study's authors, told the NSF, "We haven't had a problem so far because only phones with operating systems, so-called 'smart phones', are susceptible to viral infection." That being said, such a problem could be just beyond the horizon as the NSF points out that smartphone usage is experiencing a 150-percent annual growth rate.


Another reason cell phones have not yet experienced mass infection is the number of different operating systems. If and when the majority of cell phones come to share a particular operating system -- we're looking at you, popular iPhone -- then an outbreak is more likely.

"A Bluetooth virus can infect all Bluetooth-activated phones in a 10-30 meter radius, while Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) virus, like many computer viruses, spreads using the address book of the device," Gonzalez explained. Fortunately, these threats are not at a critical level just yet. Since the scope of infection is limited by the number of users and by characteristics of human behavior, we should have plenty of time to develop security measures. [From: NSF]

Tags: Bluetooth, cellphone, danger, security, smartphone, studies, study, top, virus, viruses

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