For computer-hackers and virus-writers, the next frontier in mischief is the cellphone. And the possibilities include a cellphone virus or Trojan horse programme instructing handsets to forward the cellphone-user’s personal address book to others, eating into a cellphone’s operating software and erasing personal information. Fiction? Well, such incidents are already dogging Japan and Europe.

‘‘Mobilephone hacking is a reality. There is every chance of mobilephone hacking having entered India with cases going unreported,’’ says cyber-law expert Pavan Duggal, ‘‘Even as cellphone networks become increasingly sophisticated, there is a simultaneous increase in the number of points within wi-fi networks which can be broken into. India will definitely hear of cellphone-hacking cases by next year.’’

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