Researchers spot first mobile spyware

Researchers at McAfee claim to have found the first spyware application that targets the Symbian operating system for mobile phones.

The spyware application comes bundled with a variant of the MultiDropper mobile phone Trojan. McAfee refers to the new online pest as SymbOS/MultiDropper.CG.

The malware tracks text messages and copies log files with the phone number of incoming and outbound phone calls.

"Although SymbOS/MultiDropper.CG does not appear to be a winner, it does signify a probable switch in malware authors' goals," Jimmy Shah, a mobile antivirus researcher at McAfee, noted on a company blog. "Rather than destroying data and information, it is stealing it for profit."

The spyware author is not spreading the software himself, but is renting out the application to others and providing them with a personal account on a server that gathers the data from infected phones.

The application provides further evidence that malware will increasingly target mobile phones. Such devices become an attractive target for online criminals as the Symbian software is evolving into the de facto standard for consumer models.

Smartphones are starting to resemble computers more closely, and consumers are getting used to installing and running software on the devices.

Shah noted that a spyware proof-of-concept application surfaced about eight months ago. "There was much speculation on how much time it would take for malware authors to integrate it into their own malware," he said.

"We have seen malware authors create custom prototype code to implement new attacks, but it is interesting to see them purchase commercial spyware to do their job for them."