Mobiles get Anti-Virus Protection

In response to the growing number of virus incidents that infect handsets, the Finnish security firm F-Secure has launched security program for mobile devices. Even though a small number of viruses were reported, many security experts believe that mobile viruses will eventually become as big a nuisance as Windows viruses.

Although most mobile operators have software in their networks to stop virus propagating, the protection must be focused on the end client to avoid propagation between two mobile devices.

"Handset to handset is a good way to deliver a virus," said Richard Hales, UK manager for F-Secure.

For now, viruses for mobile devices can spread via Bluetooth or via multimedia messaging and most of them target the Symbian operating system which is by default installed on smart-phones.

According to F-Secure, there are only 10 percent of mobile devices that can fall victim to these viruses. However, the rapid growth in the number of smart-phones making more and more people vulnerable to these viruses.