Chinese firms write world's first SMS worm

29 Jul 2009

According to F-Secure, three Chinese companies have created the world's first SMS worm called 'Sexy Space' worms or Yxe Worm.

"The worm is the first text message worm in history," said Chia Wing Fei, security response senior manager at F-Secure. "Our labs have received few confirmed reports from China and Middle East at the moment."

The companies then allegedly submitted them to Symbian OS-based phones through the express signing procedure.

The first stage of Symbian's signing process takes place automatically using an antivirus engine. Once an application has been submitted and scanned, random samples are then submitted for human audit. Most applications are not inspected by humans through the express signing procedure.

"These messages are sent in your name and from your phone. It means you will pay for each SMS sent by the worm. A typical cost for a single text message might be 5 cents. If you have 500 contacts in your phone, an infection would cost you 500 times 5 cents," Chia said.

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