Malware Gets Smart with Vodafone Smartphone

Security researchers recently unveiled findings about malware that came preinstalled on a Vodafone mobile phone handset. Its memory card was also believed to carry malware. A leading mobile telecommunication company, Vodafone, has been taking the heat for packing malware straight out of the box on their HTC Magic Android smartphones. The recipient of one of the malware-laden phones was, fortunately, an employee of the Spanish antivirus firm, Panda Security. Plugging the phone in via USB into any PC quickly led to an infection by WORM_SILLY.QT. Vodafone has already released an official statement saying that the infected phone problem was an isolated one.
Trend Micro threat researcher, Ryan Flores, believes it is likely that a computer in Vodafone’s production line has been infected by WORM_SILLY.QT. And, because of the worm’s capability to propagate through removable drives, somehow SD cards in a certain batch of smartphones were infected.
This is a perfect example of one of the many threats presented in Trend Micro’s “Future of Threats and Threat Technologies” report.
While it may be a rare occurrence for the mobile giant, Vodafone, this type of off-the-shelf malware has already made one too many appearances mainly due to the common practice of syncing phone and music devices to one’s PC. Here is a rundown of past off-the-shelf malware reports:

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