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How Cell-phone Viruses Work

Cell Phone with Virus Displaying Red Malware Detected Warning
Cell-phone viruses may be as debilitating as computer viruses. Olemedia / Getty Images

The first known cell-phone virus appeared in 2004 and didn't get very far. Cabir.A infected only a small number of Bluetooth-enabled phones and carried out no malicious action -- a group of malware developers created Cabir to prove it could be done. Their next step was to send it to anti-virus researchers, who began the process of developing a solution to a problem that promises to get a lot worse.

­ Cell-phone viruses are at the threshold of their effectiveness. At present, they can't spread very far and they don't do much damage, but the future might see cell-phone bugs that are as debilitating as computer viruses. In this article, we'll talk about how cell-phone viruses spread, what they can do and how you can protect your phone from current and future threats.

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