Textually reports an article in United Press International
It’s a little over the top at the moment, but I think there’s more than a grain of truth in the scenario.
A hacker sits on a bench at Grand Central Station in New York City and, with his mobile phone and a Wireless Fidelity connection, deviously places a virus on the cell phones of unsuspecting commuters as they walk nearby, on their way to work.
Within a few hours, the virus multiplies, infecting several hundred thousand phones, causing them to dial long distance numbers and run up millions of dollars in fraudulent telecom charges.
Fantasy? No — the coming reality. Viruses and worms on mobile phones are now considered by computer gurus to be a legitimate threat that soon may become as pervasive as the malicious codes being sent to PCs via the Internet every day.
Having said that, the journo proceeds to make a series of errors, which undermine the credibility somewhat.
People who engage in a mobile phone pastime called “Bluetoothing” are susceptible. It occurs when a user leaves a Bluetooth software-enabled phone or PDA on, and looks to link with other mobile phones in the area using the same software, to have real-time, phone chats with strangers.
Obviously he’s refering to Bluejacking, where you send messages (not have phone chats) to other enabled phones in the immediate area.
And the rather sweet:
“We call them ’script kitties,’” Crum said. “They have no knowledge of how to create the script, or code, for a virus, but they use what is created by knowledgeable guys. A lot of the viruses are like this. They use virus creation tools found on the Internet. It’s like paint by numbers — virus by numbers.”
I think he means script KIDDIES. At least round these parts. Unless cats have got in on the act now? I wouldn’t put it past them, they’re fiendishly clever you know.