Bluetooth pests a threat to cell phones

Pakistan, which at present, has nearly 10.5 million cell phone users, is said to have a potential to absorb up to 50 million mobile phone users in the next five years with an average of nearly one million connections per month. Currently six mobile companies are catering to the needs of the cell phone users in the country.
So far no mobile virus has been reported to any cellular company, but the mobile phone users complain some nagging problems, which disable the device, which is restored only after restarting the actual format. But the problem cannot he said is because of virus.
Although there has not been received any real mobile virus, yet it is likely to happen in future as virus alerts are spreading across the globe. Mobile phone viruses spread through Bluetooth.
Bluetooth is a telecommunications industry specification that describes how mobile phones, computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs) can be easily interconnected using a short-range wireless connection.
A mobile phone virus is a computer generated virus specifically adapted for the cellular environment and designed to spread from one vulnerable phone to another. Although mobile phone virus hoaxes have been around for years, the virus Cabir is the first verified example.
Cabir was developed for mobile phones running the Symbian and Series 60 software, and using Bluetooth.
The virus searches within Bluetooth's range (about 100 feet) for mobile phones running in discoverable mode and sends itself, disguised as a security file, to any vulnerable devices.
The virus only becomes active if the recipient accepts the file and then installs it. Once installed, the virus displays the word 'Caribe' on the device's display. Each time an infected phone is turned on, the virus launches itself and scans the area for other devices to send itself forward. The scanning process is likely to drain the phone's batteries. Cabir can be thought of as a hybrid virus/worm: its mode of distribution qualifies it as a network worm, but it requires user interaction like a traditional virus.
Cabir is not considered very dangerous, because it doesn't cause actual damage, and because users can prevent infection by simply refusing to accept suspicious files.
However, the virus's code could be altered to create more harmful malware that might, for example, delete any information stored on phones it infects, or send out fake messages purporting to be from the phone's owner.