MobilePipeline.com SIMWorks announced today in a press release that a new and malicious trojan aimed at users or smartphones based on the Symbian OS has been found.

According to SimWorks, which specializes in protecting Symbian-based devices, the METAL Gear.a trojan encourages users to download and install it by masquerading as the Metal Gear Solid game.

Like the recently-identified Skulls worm aimed at the Symbian OS, METAL Gear installs a version of the Cabir worm. In this case, once installed, the worm disables anti-virus and file browsing applications, according to the company.

In addition, METAL Gear makes an additional file, called SEXXXY.sis, available to Bluetooth phones in the vicinity. If the user of a nearby phone accepts that file, it disables that phone's application selection button, according to SimWorks.

"Once a user installs either METAL Gear.a or SEXXXY.a, they will find it quite difficult to repair," SimWorks CEO Aaron Davidson said in a statement. "This is particularly so in the case of METAL Gear.a asit effectively disables all the tools on the phone that a user woulneed to actually undo the damage caused by the trojan.

The company said it has updated its SimWorks Anti-Virus software to deal with those two problems.

SimWorks can be found for both UIQ and Series 60