Hand-held computers targeted by virus

Hand-held computers have come under attack from a virus for the first time, it was revealed today.

Called Duts, the virus attaches itself to files on machines running Microsoft software and infects nearby machines whenever an item such as a business card or game is sent wirelessly. Experts fear the discovery could pave the way for the first mobile phone viruses which they say would be "virtually impossible" to protect against. They admit they are strugglingto track how many copies of the new virus exist. Previously virus writers have targeted desktop computers because of the large number of vulnerable machines.

However, the huge popularity of mobile phones and hand-held computers now make them targets, experts claim. Duts was discovered by anti virus firm F-Secure. Their UK manager Matt Pearsey said: "We could see a far more malicious version of this within weeks, and all hell could break loose.

"We would urge people who have these devices or even mobile phones to back up their details and make sure their machine is protected. We know the hackers who wrote this and their work is usually copied widely."

Mr Pearsey added: "Virus writers are spreading their wings and they are targeting mobile phones. A lot of these phones are basically small computers, so you need to be very careful."

According to Mark Sunner, of computer security company MessageLabs, mobile phone viruses could be almost impossible to stop.

He said: "The problem is that a phone is just too small to run anti virus software. It could be a huge problem and phone networks need to take a serious look at the problem. Desktop virus software looks for more than 90,000 viruses and that just won't fit on a phone. It is inevitable that viruses will appear and the phone networks need to start taking precautions."