Mobile viruses could score big at soccer World Cup
Next year's FIFA World Cup soccer tournament in Germany could be fertile ground for mobile phone viruses if the World Athletics Championships in Finland, which ended Sunday, are any indication, security experts warn.
Visitors to the athletic event in Helsinki not only had to brave wind and rain, but also face the threat of catching the Cabir mobile phone worm.
Outbreaks of the malware, which first surfaced in June last year, were reported in Helsinki's Olympic Stadium, according to Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer for antivirus research at F-Secure Corp.
"We are aware of at least a couple of dozen phones being infected with the Cabir A or B worm, but many more people reported having received messages to accept a connection on their smart phones," he said. "We observed an alarmingly high level of malicious activity at the event."
Cabir uses Bluetooth short range wireless signals to jump between cell phones over distances of up to 30 feet. In a packed stadium, this could spell trouble for unknowing users.
"There was activity [of this type] at the Live 8 concerts earlier this summer," Hypponen said. "The World Cup soccer games in Germany next summer, like all mass gatherings, will almost certainly be a target. We expect a lot of people will be using mobile phones in and around the stadiums."
