Northeastern researchers say that it’s only a matter of time
before computer viruses attack smartphones, like the Blackberry
and iPhone, on a massive scale. But their study may also hold
the key to blunting the effects of these attacks. Northeastern
University physicist and network scientist Albert-László
Barabási and his coauthors tracked the spreading potential of
Bluetooth and multimedia messaging service (MMS) viruses.
Writing in the latest issue of Science, they predict that these
viruses will become a real threat to those smartphones that gain
at least a 10 percent market share. Currently, the user base for
these handheld devices is small and fragmented, making a major
virus outbreak impossible, said Barabási, Distinguished
Professor of Physics and director of the Center for Complex
Network Research (CCNR) at Northeastern University. “Once
smartphones become more widely used and one of the operating
systems increases its market share to a certain percentage,”
said Barabási, “the users of that system wil