Circulating among Symbian Series 60 phones is the first virus to spread using the popular Mobile Messaging Service (MMS).

Spotted by antivirus companies today, the new virus, dubbed CommWarrior A, uses MMS to spread copies of itself to contacts in the address book. Potential targets then receive MMS messages with file attachments containing the virus. Enticing titles such as "3DGame from me. it is FREE!" and "Nokia RingtoneManager for all models," bait users into opening and unleashing the attached virus.

If opened, the attached file infects phones, installing the virus and randomly sending MMS messages with copies of itself to numbers in the owner's phone book. Even worse, CommWarrior can also spread between phones using Bluetooth wireless connections.

Experts believe CommWarrior started spreading sometime in January, but say it isn't a serious threat. Infected phones can easily be fixed by pressing and holding the menu button on their cell phone, then selecting the CommWarrior from the list of applications that appears and pressing the "C," or "Clear" button. Once the disabled, users can use file management tools to locate and remove the virus files.

F-Secure and McAfee both posted bulletins listing the folders where the CommWarrior virus is installed on infected phones.