Symbian Trojan strikes Indonesian operator

Anti-virus vendor Kaspersky Lab is reporting a new Trojan capable of removing pre-paid credit using the SMS-transfer service offered by an Indonesian network operator. The Trojan is comprised of a Python script that sends SMS messages transferring small amounts, between 45 and 90 cents, to the attacker's account - presumably …

[Mage]

Afflicted?

Judging the PC infections, most are entirely caused by "Clickitus"

Symptom is simply randomly clicking GUI buttons of "popups" till the "go away" without actually ever reading them.

A related malady is using the laptop/PC without reading glasses. It's thus mostly "write only" for creating documents.

Why should tinier Mobiles in less relaxed circumstances be treated better. If I was immoral I'd be writing this stuff ages ago.

[Marvin the Martian]

"if you are afflicted by a condition that you do everything your phone asks"

... then surely, Kaspersky shouldn't send us this report but directly SMS the target public with a pay-and-download link?

[shane fitzgerald]

Panic!!!!!

Don't you also need to go out of your way to install python for this to even run? I don't think any S60 comes with it pre-installed.

Have they actually seen this in the wild spreading? Sounds more like a 'heard this from a friend of a friend' type story....

[Steve Litchfield]

Yup, more FUD

Absolutely. Yet another scare story whose only aim is to try and get some 'anti-virus' sales. Python is only downloaded, typically, by very tech savvy phone users. Exactly the sort of people who wouldn't fall for such a scam....

[Anonymous Coward]

Transfer pre-paid credit to another phone?

I'm not intimately familiar with Indonesian PAYG phones, though I've had UK mobiles since the days of ETACS and before, and still have a 6150 somewhere and a 6310 in active use. And I can see how sending a paid-for SMS would waste someone's credit.

So, please pardon my ignorance when I ask, is this transfer of credit from one PAYG phone to someone else's account a facility which is specific to Indonesia, or is it more widespread?

Or, heaven forbid, is it the product of an overactive PR department?

[Steve Taylor]

Phone credit transfers

> So, please pardon my ignorance when I ask, is this transfer of credit from one PAYG phone to someone else's account a facility which is specific to Indonesia, or is it more widespread?

Widespread - I used to work for a company which did this with clients in Malaysia, the Philipines, Vietnam, India and Mexico.

No idea about the reality or otherwise of the virus, but SMS based phone credit transfers - and to a lesser extent real world purchasing - are big business.

[Riho]

Notice

Actually you can send SMSs out without user ever noticing