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People are starting to become aware of the fact that cell phones are just as vulnerable as computers when it comes to hackers.

The Skulls virus has been a wake up call that phones are no more secure than computers.

"Hackers are simply trying to put it out there that it can be done," says Vincent Weafer, senior director of security response for Symantec. "The motivation is to say (cell phones) aren't as secure as you think."

Hackers have decided to take advantage of cell phones because generally people don't think of their phones being threatened.

"The impact is potentially larger on the phone because we're not savvy about that," said Victor Kouznetsov, senior vice president of mobile solutions at McAfee.

"The nightmare scenario with cell phones is a virus that would delete the contents of your phone, or start calling (a toll number) ... or recording every single one of your conversations and sending (them) somewhere," said Mikko Hypponen, director of anti-virus research at F-Secure.

By 2006, cell phone viruses will be what viruses are on the Internet in 2004,'' stated John Pescatore, an analyst with Gartner, a technology research firm.

"First, it will be a nuisance," he says. "The next phase will be crime, like theft or theft of service, and then after that, we'll start seeing different types of attacks..."

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