Until now mobile phone viruses have only been able to replicate locally, by using Bluetooth wireless technology.
CommWarrior, which attacks Symbian Series 60 platform phones, is able to do this too, but in a critical evolution in phone viruses, now also has the ability to randomly send an MMS (multimedia messaging service) message to an infected phone's contacts list.
Users must download a file sent with the text in order to infect their phone.
This ability is similar to that seen in e-mail viruses, where the virus replicates by sending itself to e-mail addresses listed in the infected PC's address book. Users are much more likely to open these e-mails, as they often appear to have been sent by someone they know.
"The situation is not critical since we have not received a lot of reports from our customers," said F-Secure's Director for Mobile Operator Solutions, Antti Vihavainen. "However, CommWarrior creates unwanted billing for the owners of infected phones by sending MMS messages without user interaction."
"The phones can be easily protected by using common sense. None of today's mobile viruses can install themselves without the user accepting the standard security warnings," he added.
F-Secure is investigating why the virus, which appears to have come from Russia, is replicating slowly at present.