Are cellphone viruses fact or fiction?

I was traveling through Amish country a week ago and I had the urge for some Amish baked goods. So I stopped at one of the local stores and never even got the sweet treat I went in for.
Instead, I was totally amazed at the fact that standing in front of me were several Amish gentlemen and they all had smartphones.
I was stunned and quite amazed as I thought that the Amish wanted nothing to do with the things of technology.
So, being the curious person that I am, I waited until one Amish gentleman was finished talking on the phone and I politely asked him about his use of the smartphone and when it became acceptable for the Amish to venture into the realm of technology.
I won’t bore you with the details of our conversation, which to me was very interesting. Maybe I’ll do a column on that another time.
During my conversation with the Amish gentleman I told him that I was in the information technology business. He asked a very interesting question, which was, “Can a cellphone be hacked and get a virus”?
Well, I tell you I was both amazed at his question and impressed, but I had no answer for him as I really didn’t know if either situation was possible.
So I told him that I would not only research the matter, but I would e-mail him the answer as well.
Thus, I am now taking you on a journey to answer the Amish gentleman’s question.
In order to answer the question of whether a cell phone can get a virus, one must first accept the fact that the cell phone, of today, also referred to as a smartphone is a very compact computer that has almost all of the abilities that your PC or laptop has and more, since you can dial and engage in conversation with anyone, anywhere, at any time provided you have five bars.
Now it should be very obvious that if the cell phone is a computer then it stands to reason that it can be afflicted with a virus.
We must also consider that the taste buds of the ominous hackers, out there in the world, have become tantalized with the thought of a whole new universe that is waiting to be plundered and pillaged by them.
A virtual hacker’s smorgasbord, the next frontier and you can best believe that they are on the hunt for big game.
In researching this subject, I was shocked to find that there are a tremendous amount of viruses designed specifically to attack a cell phone.
Yet, I personally have not encountered any of these viruses or I have and just didn’t realize that the problem was virus related.
One of the viruses that can infect your cell phone makes hidden phone calls to very expense phone lines, unbeknownst to you as the hacker is able to embed a hidden virus that will reveal when you are not using the phone allowing the hacker to initiate a call sequence without your knowledge.
There is another virus that can cause your cell phone to transmit very pricy SMS messages, again without your knowledge and consent.
This next virus is one that I think I might have experienced as well as a few of my friends and family members too.
This virus effects the cell phone battery and can cause it to drain faster than usual which can lead one to believe that the battery is defective when it really isn’t.
This has happened to me on several occasions, with brand-new batteries, making me replace them, only to find that the old battery was fine.
If this should ever happen to you, make sure that you take the battery out of your phone, recharge it and try it in another phone.
This will tell you if the battery is defective or if you are the possible victim of a hacker.
There are things that one can do to protect their cell phone from being hacked, as well as other areas of concern that cell phone users should be aware of and we will look at the solution and other concerns next week.

Andino Ward is vice president of marketing and operations of Bardissi Enterprises in Hatfield. Bardissi Enterprises welcomes your questions or comments. Questions you would like answered or topics you would like discussed should be sent to Andino R. Ward at award@bardissi.net. You can also visit www.bardissi.net, or call (215) 853-2266.