It has just been seven years since the time when first virus was introduced in a game ‘Mosquito’ by a company called as Ojam. Ever since then, malware has been introduced in various ways and affecting MCDs (Mobile Computing Devices) all over the world. It has been an issue of great concern since it invades into the privacy of mobile users. Once installed in the victim’s phone it can track the user’s location via GPS, call other people, send SMS/MMS, gain unauthorized access to the resources or even use the mobile remotely over the 3G/Wi-Fi Internet connection. It can also cause the user to have a monetary loss without the owner even knowing anything about it. Malware can be categorized into various types-Virus, Worms, Trojan horse, Spyware, etc. They are transferred to the device by emails, messages and downloaded files. One of the characteristics of malware is self-duplication, where it creates replicas inside the device without the user noticing it. Malware can be any type of code, script, executable file or software. The malware writers have not spared any Mobile Operating System, be it Symbian (Nokia), iOS - iPhone OS, Android OS, Blackberry or Windows OS. Some of these viruses are Cabir, CommWarrior (Symbian), Rick Astley virus (iOS-iPhone OS) and SMS.AndroidOS.FakePlayer (Android OS). In this paper, we have analyzed the different types of malware and their effects on Symbian, iOS & Android, Windows, Blackberry devices. We have also suggested ways to detect and remove them.

1. Ontology-based Mobile Malware Behavioral Analysis Hsiu-Sen Chiang, Woei-Jiunn Tsaur, Department of Information Management, Da-Yeh University, Changhua, Taiwan, R.O.C.
2. D. Dagon, T.Martin, and T.Starner, “Mobile phones as computing devices: The viruses are coming!” IEEE Pervasive Computing, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 11-15, 2004.
3. M. Piercy, “Embedded devices next on the virus target list,” IEE Electronics Systems and Software, vol. 2, pp. 42-43, Dec.-Jan. 2004.
4. The zdnet website [Online] Available: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/mcafee-malware-going-mobile/44549.
5. The net security website [Online] Available: http://www.net-security.org/malware_news.php?id=1748
6. A. Bose, X. Hu,, K. G. Shin, and T. Park, “Behavioral Detection of malware on mobile handsets, “ in Proceeding of the 6th international conference on Mobile Systems, applications and services. Brecken-ridge, CO, USA: ACM, 2008, pp. 225-238.
7. Dagon, D.; Martin, T.; Starner, T.; Georgia Inst. of Technol., Atlanta, GA, USA,“Mobile phones as computing devices: the viruses are coming”, Pervasive Computing, IEEE, Oct.-Dec. 2004, pp. 11-15.
8. The panda security website [Online] Available: http://press.pandasecurity.com/usa/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/CNCCS-Smartphone-Malware-Full-Report-Translated-06-7-11-FINAL.pdf
9. The pda street website [Online] Available: http://www.pdastreet.com/articles/2005/1/2005-1-13-Mobile-Malware-The.html
10. The smartphonetoday website [Online] Available: http://www.smartphonetoday.com/articles/2004/6/2004-6-15-Worm-Hooks-Symbian.html
11. M. Becher, F. Freiling, J. Homann, T. Holz, S. Uellenbeck, and C. Wolf. Mobile Security Catching Up? Revealing the Nuts and Bolts of the Security of Mobile Devices. In IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, 2011.
12. The securelist website [Online] Available: http://www.securelist.com/en/analysis/200119916/Mobile_Malware_Evolution_An_Overview_Part_1#beg
13. The week website [Online] Available: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Symbian-Says-Skulls-May-Not-Be-Malware/
14. The geek zone website [Online] Available: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=3713
15. The f-Secure website [Online] Available: http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/trojan_symbos_cardtrap_m.shtml
16. The f-Secure website [Online] Available: http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/trojan_symbos_cardtrap_a.shtml
17. A.-D. Schimdt, F. Peters, F. Lamour, and S. Albayrak, “Monitoring Smartphones for anomaly detection, ” in MOBILEWARE 2008, International Conference on MOBILE Wireless MiddleWARE, Operating Systems, and Applications, Innsbruck, Austria, 2008.
18. The f-Secure website [Online] Available: http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/skulls.shtml
19. The f-Secure website [Online] Available: http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/cabir.shtml
20. The f-Secure website [Online] Available: http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/mquito.shtml
21. The f-Secure website [Online] Available: http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/commwarrior.shtml
22. The f-Secure website [Online] Available: http://www.f- secure.com/v-descs/worm_iphoneos_ikee.shtml
23. G. Lawton. Is it finally time to worry about mobile malware? Computer, May 2008.
24. M.Fossi (Editor). Symantec Report on the Underground Economy. Symantec Corporation, 2008.

Malware Virus Trojan horse iOS-iPhone OS Android OS