Mobile Entertainment

In the UK this phenomenon is most noticeable in August, when hoards of city dwellers de-camp to Spain for cheap lager and sunburn.

We're not quite in August yet, which is amazing considering the media frenzy that's already built up this year concerning teenage 'hoodies', the £1.15 litre of petrol (that's a whopping $8 gallon US readers!) and the crunching of credit.

But if there's one thing more terrifying to mobile users than having to walk past a group of hooded youths hanging around a market town street corner, it's the possibility that their handsets could come under attack from worms.

And we're not talking about the nice, fun kind of worms downloadable in game form from an operator portal. We're talking about nasty viral worms and their partner in crime, the trojan.

According to security software specialist Symantec, smartphones are currently the target of 300 'malware' programmes. And it appears, just like on a PC, it's usually the user that inadvertently installs the filthy bugger on their device.

In fact, Symantec says one source of danger is the synchronisation of smartphones with PCs, in addition to other virus channels like Bluetooth, WAP and SMS. Stuff to watch out for in the future includes adware and spyware too.

It's all scary stuff and it seems we aren't taking enough precautions - less than 17 per cent of enterprises use security software on-device. No-prizes for guessing who can help rectify that situation.

But surely the real issue here is who on God's green earth creates these viruses in the first place? Do hackers sit around thinking to themselves: "I know! It'll be really fun to create a worm that Bluetooths itself to another handset when opened. How exciting!"

No worries if you're an iPhone user though. Everyone knows Apple stuff doesn't get viruses...