Finnish anti-virus research company F-Secure reports that the first mobile phone virus, called Cabir, has made it"s way to the United States since it"s discovery in the Philippines over eight months ago. The Cabir virus and it"s twelve varients are known to prematurely drain cell phone batteries.
On Monday, Mikko Hypponen, director F-Secure, discovered Cabir on a Nokia cell phone in a technology gadgets store in Santa Monica, California, where someone spotted a telltale sign on the screen of the phone. The store owner"s cell phone had also been infected.
"It"s interesting (the Cabir variant) has now been found in the United States, but it"s not the end of the world," said Hypponen.
While the threat is still relatively minimal compared to the thousands of computer viruses that make their rounds daily, Cabir marks the beginning of the new mobile device virus era.