Of all the viruses Computers As Humans has reported on there have certainly been none as coolly-named as the Zombie virus. Like a hangover from last weeks Halloween, the Zombie Virus has been on the rampage in China infecting some one million cell phones. However despite it's almost comically ghoulish name, the Zombie virus is no laughing matter.
The virus takes over a user's cell phone and begins sending out text messages to all the contacts on that person's SIM card. Those texts all contain links which when clicked on infect other phones with the virus. Often the texts will also be sent to pay-to-text numbers that will directly profit the hackers. It is estimated that the Zombie virus is costing Chinese citizens around $300,000 a day.
So how do you kill a zombie virus? We all know from the movies that when it comes to zombies the golden rule is "kill the head and the body will die." But Chinese authorities are having a difficult time cutting this virus off at the head as copycat viruses have already began to spring up.
The Zombie Virus infiltrates a user's phone as part of a fake anti-virus app. Viruses intended for smart phones have also previously been discovered bundled into a series of Android wallpaper apps. It is believed that viruses designed to target mobile phones represent an increasing threat in the years to come. Hopefully security firms in the United States will take notice of the threat in China and begin enacting measures to protect smart phone users around the world from the Zombie virus and others like it.
No comments:
Post a Comment