36 Chapter3·TimelineofMobileMalware,Hoaxes,andThreats Introduction In 2000, a VBScript worm spread in Spanish, sending notifications of the infection to tele- phones configured to receive e-mails. For many, this was the dawn of a new era of threats-- those targeting mobile devices. Unfortunately, this historic incident was largely misunderstood and abused to promote various fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) agendas. Still, Timofonica (a.k.a., Telefonica and Timo) marks an important historic point in computing history, where mobile devices first experienced a notable security incident related to mobile malware (MM). N ote Technically, Timofonica didn't spread on mobile devices. It essentially spammed them from PCs. Still, it marks an important historical event that triggered a focus upon mobile security at the time. 2000 was an awakening period in many respects for mobile security in the wild. Several experts predicted looming emergent threats against the mobile market following