When a Virus comes a calling

**radimus** · 11-07-07, 02:06 PM

Like most of us, I do not run an antivirus on my PPC. The time will come however when this will become a problem, especially with the increasing converged device market and adoption of mobile devices in the corporate market. Stealing the address book of your teenage daughter is one thing, but stealing the password hash (or keylogger) from a corporate device is another.

According to Symantec, viruses spread on cell phones in a variety of ways: Internet downloads, MMS (multimedia messaging service) attachments, and Bluetooth transfers to name a few. They'll often show up as game downloads, updates to your phone's system, ringtones, or alerts. McAfee Avert Labs has identified about 450 different variants of mobile threats, and that's not including phishing attacks and spam. According to McAfee research, 83 percent of worldwide carriers have had security incidents in 2007.
What do these viruses do? Reports are trickling in: A Seattle family was watched, monitored, and threatened because of spyware on their cell phone. A man's cell phone content was wiped clean after he downloaded a virus-infested ringtone. Crashes, unstable or slower-than-usual performance, quick battery consumption, incorrect or skyrocketing mobile phone bills, a dramatic increase in messaging charges-any of these could be a virus.
One of the original cell phone viruses (2004) was transmitted through a Bluetooth connection. Like your PC, some phone viruses are just annoying-a pop-up or a silly joke. Others are a bit more insidious, like the one that resets your phone monthly.
But the latest and most sophisticated crop are what's called "pranking for profit." This can involve things like redirecting your calls to a different carrier in a different country, racking up a hefty phone bill. Or sending an MMS message to everyone in your contact directory, leaving you with enormous extra charges. Or "vishing," when you'll get a voice call that asks for information, faking it by posing as a legitimate business. A downloaded application may send information about your phone account to hackers. Snoopware (which is spyware on steroids) might capture your keypad clicks

Link: http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/raskin/14640

Products: http://shop.symantecstore.com/DRHM/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action=DisplayProductSearchResul tsPage&SiteID=symnahho&categoryID=2219900&Locale=e n_US&ThemeID=106300&keywords=wireless&PC1.x=0&PC1. y=0&pgm=12821000

http://www.mobilefan.net/Pocket-PC.nsf/Download-Free-Software/Anti-Virus

http://www.airscanner.com/

http://f-secure-mobile-anti-virus.en.softonic.com/pocket

http://www.bullguard.com/why/bullguard-mobile-antivirus.aspx

View Original Blog Post

11-07-07, 02:15 PM

Excellent article Rad!

dellguy85 · 11-07-07, 02:42 PM

agreed, very good article...

Menneisyys · 11-07-07, 05:21 PM

Under WM, it's not worth wasting system resources of running any firewall / AV app. This isn't Symbian. (Not that it'd be a must on Symbian either - I have also a Nokia N95 and have never had any security problem.)

Julie · 11-07-07, 09:59 PM

Trickling reports don't concern me. I'll worry about it when the reports start flooding in about windows mobile devices. (I don't download a bunch of stuff to my pocket pcs, so it's really of no concern to me) Until then, a factory reset is my friend.

spunker88 · 11-08-07, 07:28 AM

The reason pc have been targeted so much longer is that they are on a lot more, and most are always connected to the internet. This makes them spam sending machines.

But now people are carrying around always on cellphones, that can connect to a wireless long range internet, and with faster processors and more storage, it looks like a new generation of technology to become spam engines.

But, like Julie said: Just hard reset and backup if and when you ever got a virus. It only takes 5min to do on a ppc, where it would take all day on your home pc.