Captain Beer
Executive Member
My father has a 6680, and while at the airport he recived three messages with weird names like 34rghik_cid.sis and it says they have something to do with bluetooth. What are they?
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Mobile virusses
- Thread starter Captain Beer
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Captain Beer
Executive Member
Thanks! So how do you pick these things up?
Various mobile forums around the net show the information regarding these viruses. A few companies even offers anti-virus software for Series 60 phones (such as your dad's 6680).
The only thing you need to know, is:
- Only smartphones, such as the Nokia Series 60 and Sony-Erricsons P-range can (At this moment) receive and be infected by viruses.
- All these virusses are user-installed (thus, you must accept the bluetooth message, open the file and confirm installation). They usually tempt you with filenames saying 'free game' or something.
- The safest way to prevent your phone from getting these virusses are to switch bluetooth off altogether, or at least to 'non-discoverable' mode.
- What I do, though, when I get a random bluetooth message is to mostly ignore it (when the phone ask whether you wish to receive it, decline). However, some places offers short advertisement via Bluetooth when you walk past it (such as Cafe Dulche in Centurion Mall). When you realise you start getting the same message every time you walk past say a certain store, accept it. However, when the phone says 'New Message', DO NOT press show, as this will immediately open the file without the chance to see it first. Rather, go to your inbox via the menu and the filename should be displayed without the need to open the message. From here, you can easily see whether it is a .sis file (potential virus) or .gif/.jpg (advertisement).
Sorry for the long reply!
The only thing you need to know, is:
- Only smartphones, such as the Nokia Series 60 and Sony-Erricsons P-range can (At this moment) receive and be infected by viruses.
- All these virusses are user-installed (thus, you must accept the bluetooth message, open the file and confirm installation). They usually tempt you with filenames saying 'free game' or something.
- The safest way to prevent your phone from getting these virusses are to switch bluetooth off altogether, or at least to 'non-discoverable' mode.
- What I do, though, when I get a random bluetooth message is to mostly ignore it (when the phone ask whether you wish to receive it, decline). However, some places offers short advertisement via Bluetooth when you walk past it (such as Cafe Dulche in Centurion Mall). When you realise you start getting the same message every time you walk past say a certain store, accept it. However, when the phone says 'New Message', DO NOT press show, as this will immediately open the file without the chance to see it first. Rather, go to your inbox via the menu and the filename should be displayed without the need to open the message. From here, you can easily see whether it is a .sis file (potential virus) or .gif/.jpg (advertisement).
Sorry for the long reply!
Captain Beer
Executive Member
Thanks that was very informative!
Starting to understand it now.
Starting to understand it now.
piranha786
Expert Member
bluejacking
I sometimes send a msg to ppl, like : piranha786 is watching you!
the best places to pick up ppl is in airports, or shopping malls.
but that is for the fun only.
I sometimes send a msg to ppl, like : piranha786 is watching you!
the best places to pick up ppl is in airports, or shopping malls.
but that is for the fun only.
Problem with bluejacking is that the person should be within 10 metres of you...
Thus, it works fine within a movie, but sending 'I am Death' to the person sitting in the cublicle next to you in Spur and then laughing out loud about it, is NOT a good idea...
Thus, it works fine within a movie, but sending 'I am Death' to the person sitting in the cublicle next to you in Spur and then laughing out loud about it, is NOT a good idea...
Jeeva
Banned
just install AV for your S-60.
rehd
Well-Known Member
ebendl said:Problem with bluejacking is that the person should be within 10 metres of you...
Thus, it works fine within a movie, but sending 'I am Death' to the person sitting in the cublicle next to you in Spur and then laughing out loud about it, is NOT a good idea...
May the Force be with you ......
hehehe
Jeeva said:
Should work, but I prefer not to get the virus in the first place. That way I also keep my phone running less applications at the same time.
Bluejacking message: "I am watching you..."
vodacom3g
Vodacom Representative
The handsets are currently very vulnerable to virus attacks. It's early days for anti-virus software, both on the network and on the handsets.
If Vodacom detects a new virus, we scan for it in all MMS going over the network, but this is obviously always reactive, i.e. we first need to learn of the new virus, analyse it and put scanners in place. No automated systems yet....
As mentioned above, on your handset, via bluetooth, you have to actively install the virus, yet some people still manage click on the 'yes' button multiple times to install the virus...
So, don't leave your bluetooth on (all it does is chow your battery in any case) and don't install anything you did not intentionally want to install.
Handset virus software is also still in it's infancy and I found it uses so much CPU (om my K-Jam, for example) that it's better turned off.
If Vodacom detects a new virus, we scan for it in all MMS going over the network, but this is obviously always reactive, i.e. we first need to learn of the new virus, analyse it and put scanners in place. No automated systems yet....
As mentioned above, on your handset, via bluetooth, you have to actively install the virus, yet some people still manage click on the 'yes' button multiple times to install the virus...
So, don't leave your bluetooth on (all it does is chow your battery in any case) and don't install anything you did not intentionally want to install.
Handset virus software is also still in it's infancy and I found it uses so much CPU (om my K-Jam, for example) that it's better turned off.
vodacom3g
Vodacom Representative
What is your battery life with and without bluetooth on?
I get about two days out of it - no idea without BT (switched on from day one). Also set on dual mode (3G + GSM), email checks every hour, do browsing and SMSing as well. Some calls mostly in evening.
I luckily have a spare battery from a Nokia NGage that had a nasty incident with a TV-remote. The 2 days is without having to use the spare, though.
I luckily have a spare battery from a Nokia NGage that had a nasty incident with a TV-remote. The 2 days is without having to use the spare, though.
Weird thing happened day before last...
Was sitting in Dros Centurion, when I got a request on my Nokia N70 from a phone with a rude name trying to send me stuff. I accpeted but nothing came through. After the 5th request over a period of about an hour I received a file named a_0t3h1ny1.sis which tried to install on my phone. A security violation message came up saying the file could not be installed.
Yes, I am aware of the risks of receiving files from unknown sources, but was just too interested to find out what it was. Now, the question is this, has anybody else experienced anything like this? What are the odds of this being a virus, perhaps spreading from a bluetooth enabled laptop?
AFAIK, there hasn't been any known successful mobile virus threat to date. There have been some written, but none were successful in spreading wide enough to be concidered potent AFAIK.
Anybody in a position to add to this?
Was sitting in Dros Centurion, when I got a request on my Nokia N70 from a phone with a rude name trying to send me stuff. I accpeted but nothing came through. After the 5th request over a period of about an hour I received a file named a_0t3h1ny1.sis which tried to install on my phone. A security violation message came up saying the file could not be installed.
Yes, I am aware of the risks of receiving files from unknown sources, but was just too interested to find out what it was. Now, the question is this, has anybody else experienced anything like this? What are the odds of this being a virus, perhaps spreading from a bluetooth enabled laptop?
AFAIK, there hasn't been any known successful mobile virus threat to date. There have been some written, but none were successful in spreading wide enough to be concidered potent AFAIK.
Anybody in a position to add to this?
Last edited:
Scott
Dealer
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There has been many viruses on smart phones...what you were recieving was a virus. What happens is the phone gets infected, the virus turns on bluetooth and just keeps trying to send to anyone nearby. The effects of the virus is dependant on the virus....
its quite a huge possibility that it could be a virus.
check:
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/symantec.mobile.threats.removal.tool.html
its for series 60 nokia phones, don't know which series is the N70.
check:
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/symantec.mobile.threats.removal.tool.html
its for series 60 nokia phones, don't know which series is the N70.
IanC
Expert Member
The_Unbeliever
Honorary Master
I keep my bluetooth switched off.