Computer hackers have now got their hands on mobile phones. "A phone virus programme can 1 your phone do things you have no control over", computer security experts 2. It might 3 the White house or the police. or forward your personal address book to a marketing company. Or it could simply cat into the phone's operating software, turning it 4and erasing your personal information. Similar viruses have already made mobile phone owners 5in Japan and Europe. Ari Hypponcn, chief technical officer of a computer security company in Finland, said a virus "can get your 6 and send them elsewhere. And it can record your password". Mobiles are now able to surf the Net, send emails and 7 software. So they are an easy target for the same hackers who have sent viruses to computers over the past decade.
"It's technically 8 now. "said Stephen Trilling. director of research at anti -virus software maker Symantec Corp based in the US. "If the phone is connected to the 9, it can be used to transmit threats and attack targets, just as any computer can."
In Japan, if you opened a certain email message on your mobile, it would cause the phone to repeatedly dial the national emergency number. So phone operators had to cancel emergency calls until the fault was removed. In Europe. mobiles' short message service, or SMS, has been used to send codes that could damage phones. Mobile users can 10 viruses, of course, by sticking to their traditional phones without Web links, some experts said.
