Virus writers have created a new Trojan capable of infecting Symbian Series 60 smartphones. Dampig-A, discovered March 4, attempts to trick users into downloading it by posing as the cracked version of the FSCaller application, developed by SymbianWare of Germany.

The Trojan (a malicious SIS file dropper) disables some built-in applications and third party file managers and attempts to install variants of the Cabir worm onto infected handsets. "None of the Cabir variants installed on the phone will start automatically, but some of the applications that are replaced with Cabir executables, such as Messaging application, will be most likely called and thus executed by the user," notes Finnish anti-virus firm F-Secure.

The Dampig Trojan is the latest in a series of malware threats to affect users of Symbian Series 60 smartphones in recent months. F-Secure says the Trojan is trickier to remove than earlier forms of mobile malware. Dampig corrupts the system uninstallation information so it cannot be removed without disinfecting the phone with anti-virus.

Like all mobile malware threats to date, Dampig is rare and largely a risk confined to people frequenting 'warez' sites. To get infected with the Cabir package it carries, which spreads using the Bluetooth short-range radio technology, users would have to give explicit consent. That means that mobile viruses, though still a threat, are far harder to catch than viruses such as the Bofra worm which exploit Windows security holes to spread. ®

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