Cell phones to get virus protection

Printable View

March 10th, 2005, 11:59 PM
ric-o

Cell phones to get virus protection

Hmmm...call me cynical but I gotta wonder about processing speed and storage needs. Cell phones dont have all that fast a CPU do they? And are they gonna be able to store large signature files? Course since viruses for cell phones are very few at this time the sigs are gonna be small....for now. Question the scalability of this.

http://news.com.com/Cell+phones+to+g...3-5608794.html

Quote:

Cell phones to get virus protection
Published: March 10, 2005, 11:05 AM PST
By Dan Ilett
Special to CNET News.com

HANNOVER, Germany--Antivirus company Kaspersky Lab is preparing to release antivirus software for smart phones that use the Symbian operating system.

Cell phone viruses are still relatively rare, but Kaspersky's move into mobile antivirus software shows it expects more to break out in the future.

Earlier this week, a Trojan horse was found that targets Nokia Series 60 phones, which use Symbian. And last week, a smart phone virus called Cabir infected a handset in France, the 17th country to report an incident involving the malicious software.

Kaspersky's Anti-Virus for Symbian OS, which is in open beta testing, enables people to set their phone to receive regular antivirus updates. Alternatively, they can download the updates manually from the WAP section of Kaspersky's Web site. The cell phone security software includes a monitor to intercept viruses as they arrive and a scanner that looks for malicious code on request, according to Kaspersky.

However, the software only protects devices running versions 6.1 and 7.0 of Symbian, and not the latest version, 9.0, which was launched last month. It's not clear what plans Kaspersky has to protect Symbian 9.0 phones.

The company has pledged to give a free version of the software to anyone who participates in testing.
March 11th, 2005, 10:33 AM
scratchONtheBOX

Limited

Quote:

Hmmm...call me cynical but I gotta wonder about processing speed and storage needs. Cell phones dont have all that fast a CPU do they? And are they gonna be able to store large signature files? Course since viruses for cell phones are very few at this time the sigs are gonna be small....for now. Question the scalability of this.

- Agree with you about the limited capabilities (as of now) of mobile's internal memory pertaining to processing, I hope they could design the mobile antivirus to run from the MMC (Multimedia Memory Card) to help the process' stability like the other software around (has suport for installation in MMC). The BIG question actually is, how about antivirus updates, definitions, upgrade, etc. These things could mean more HARDWARE UPGRADE REQUIREMENTS. I think that's what Nokia and other main player in the mobile industry is doing now, larger internal memory for process handling, more support for external storage and other features that would support these process requirements not to mention STABILITY AND OPEN-NESS.

More Symbian info, Security and development here - http://www.symbian.com/developer/techlib/index.html
and here - http://www.symbian.com/technology/pr...criptions.html

More Nokia Development Updates here - http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,8764,64440,00.html

Quote:

the software only protects devices running versions 6.1 and 7.0 of Symbian

- This is what I am waiting for, an Anti Virus for my Nokia 3650, thanks for the news!

Quote:

The company has pledged to give a free version of the software to anyone who participates in testing.

- got to visit their website for more details....

Thanks for the info.

Yo!
March 11th, 2005, 02:11 PM
Timmy77

Great, now we have to manage AV definitions on our cell phones.
March 12th, 2005, 06:11 AM
al1aprize

what's next? spyware on phones?
March 12th, 2005, 07:51 AM
The Duck

Quote:

The company has pledged to give a free version of the software to anyone who participates in testing.

Or they can give the software free of charge to everyone...

Most cell phone virii are still harmless, I think this is just a scheme to make money, make the general public fear for cell phone virii that will make their phone explode and make them buy their product that will only slow their cell phone down...

IMHO, I just think this should be released for free...
March 13th, 2005, 10:06 PM
scratchONtheBOX

I can't install F-Secure

Looking for a FREE AV for Mobile lately, I stumble across F-Secure's Mobile Security page - http://www.f-secure.com/wireless/ and downloaded the free 30-day trial version.

Just what I had mentioned (I hope they could design the mobile antivirus to run from the MMC), the installation file, although I copied it to my MMC to start the installation there, well, the procedure of Symbian OS (my 3650 is v6.1), it will temporarily copy the installation file to the internal memory (max 4MB), in which I only have less than 2MB left, preventing it for further installing (since it returns a "low mem" message). Limited that is.

Quote:

System requirements
850 KB free space in devices internal memory
Connection to Internet

- Well, I guess I passed the requirement (for the internal mem)?

If only I could run it in my MMC directly (both installation and diagnostic), it would solve the problem. So OS and AV writers for mobile, please hear me... :D LoLz!

Yo!