Malware goes mobile

Security companies, cellular operators and phone makers are trying to eliminate the threats caused by the airborne computer viruses, before they are out of control. Web browsers, e-mail and other messaging clients and the systems containing flash memory card readers and short range Bluetooth radios offers a conduit through which malware can propagate. Bluetooth allows certain mobile worms to spread among vulnerable phones by proximity. Service providers in North American markets are beginning to introduce mobile wallets in which customers will be able to use their phones to transfer funds from their accounts to others by sending special formatted text messages. Mobile phones should have a firewall software that warns the user when a program on the phone seizes to open an Internet connection. The Trusted Computing Group has been using out industry standards for microcircuitry inside phones that will make it harder for malware to get at sensitive data in the mobile phones.