Viruses 'pose no risk to mobile phones'

Mobile phone industry body the GSM Association has reassured users that their handsets are under no risk of infection from computer viruses.

The move follows a warning issued earlier this week that a virus which sends unwanted text messages to mobile phones had been discovered "in the wild".

The virus, called I-Worm Timofonica, uses Microsoft Outlook to spread in a similar way to the deadly Love Bug, which wreaked havoc across the globe last month. The virus sends a copy of itself to everyone in the infected users' Outlook address book, and a short messaging service text message to users of Spanish telco Telefonica's mobile service.

Antivirus vendors said the virus was apparently being used to protest against Telefonica. However, while the virus could affect PC files, it poses no risk to mobile phones.

James Moran, director of security at the GSM Association, said in a statement today: "The so-called Timofonica virus is typical of the newer email variety being spread via personal computers. It is not capable of infecting or harming mobile phones, just as it is not capable of propagating further via mobile to mobile, or mobile to computer transmission."

"Customers can be assured that the integrity of the GSM system is not threatened by these claims," he added.

Graham Cluley, senior technical consultant at antivirus company Sophos, said: "There is no way it can infect your phone, and even the latest Wap phones don't have a powerful enough operating system to get infected with a virus."