Skulls Trojan takes aim at smartphones

Are mobile phone users the next target for virus writers?

Antivirus company F-Secure is warning about a newly discovered virus targeting smartphones running the Symbian operating system.

The Skulls.L mutant entices users to install the code by pretending to be a pirated copy of the F-Secure Mobile Anti-Virus software.

The Trojan is based on Skulls.C, the security software company wrote on its blog. The code first appeared last November, but so far has infected only a very limited number of phones.

The only difference between the two versions is that the latest variant masquerades as the antivirus software.

Once infected, the Trojan breaks all applications on a user's Symbian mobile phone. This disables messaging, internet access and other applications. Only the phone's calling features will remain working.

The virus seems to tag along with the latest hype around malware for mobile phones. Research firm Gartner last week ranked mobile malware as one of the five most overhyped security threats.

Mobile phone viruses in reality have a hard time spreading themselves. Unlike some of the more harmful email worms for desktop computers, mobile viruses require user interaction before the phone becomes infected.