Crossover Virus Can Jump From PCs to Smartphones

6:30 am on March 1, 2006 | Category: Mobile Devices

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A group of mobile security researchers claim to have found the first known virus that can jump from a computer to a mobile device.

The new virus, called “Crossover,” was deliberately sent to the Mobile Antivirus Researchers Association by an anonymous programmer. Although harmful in theory, it is basically just a taunt, and hasn’t been released to infect peoples’ computers. A wide-scale attempt to spread Crossover, however, could still happen, and no remedy has been created so far.

“Crossover is the first malware to be able to infect both a Windows desktop computer as well as a PDA running Windows Mobile for Pocket PC,” the research group said after analyzing the virus.

The malicious code is capable of using the Microsoft ActiveSync synchronization program to automatically detect and “jump” to any Windows-based PDA or smartphone that is connected to an already infected PC.

Once it inhabits a mobile device, Crossover deletes all the files in the “My Documents” folder, then copies itself into the startup folder to repeat the dastardly deed every time your handheld is restarted.

The Mobile Antivirus Researchers Association says that it will be doing a thorough analysis of this new threat, so that it can provide accurate information to select security experts and antivirus companies.

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    Published by TeleClick Enterprises
    Edited by Jeremy Maddock