Virus hacks 150,000 cell phones in China

A mobile phone virus has infected 150,000 people in China allowing hackers to remotely monitor calls, according to the Beijing Times on Wednesday.

Named ‘X Undercover’, the virus takes advantage of existing vulnerabilities in smart phones by forcing the three-way calling service to secretly open.

It allows conversations and text messages to be monitored and copied after the virus breaks into the calling sequence, said Zou Shihong, a security expert with NetQin Mobile Inc.

The virus can also secretly video the phone’s owner, retrieve call and text records as well as pinpoint the user’s latest GPS position, reports the China Daily.

The software is marketed towards discovering a spouse’s betrayal, a cheating employee or simply to monitor your child.

In China, it’s against the law to bug and monitor personal information, according to mobile security experts who advise people to be cautious when clicking attachments in multimedia messages or allowing others to use their phone.