First Java (J2ME) cell phone trojan on the loose
Alerts went out Tuesday from several security companies warning users of an in-the-wild Trojan horse able to infect nearly any cell phone.
The Trojan, named Redbrowser.a by McAfee, F-Secure, and the discovering vendor, Moscow-based Kaspersky Labs, can attack any device -- smart phone, PDA, or cell phone -- that runs Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME), Sun Microsystem's version for consumer electronics devices.
"The important thing about this Trojan is that it can get to any device that runs J2ME," said Shane Coursen, a Kaspersky senior technical analyst. "A good portion of cell phones use Java for games, and some of their other programs."
Redbrowser.a appears on a device as a text message with an accompanying file attachment. The file claims it's a program that lets users visit WAP sites without a connection. In reality, the Trojan installs code that sends out text messages to premium-rate phone numbers in Russia. The user's charged $5 to $6 for each message. L33tdawg: I wouldn't be surprised if the virus is exploiting the vulnerability in J2ME discovered by Adam Gowdiak (formerly of the LSD Research Group) back in 2004! He warned everyone back then that this was a major issue that needed some serious attention...
