Antivirus For Smartphone

[Guest gladel]

uh, is there any antivirus app for smartphone?

[Guest Emad]

There are no viruses, so why would there be an antivirus piece of software? Thats one of the main reasons for application signing.

[Guest gladel]

but its possible for viruses to enter via pocket ie, isn't not?

[Guest PsychoDave]

It would have to be specifically written for smartphone 2002.

Normal virus code wouldn't run even if you were unlucky enough to download it.

Then again its 3 in the morning and i could be wrong :)

[Guest gladel]

how 'bout the viruses from pocket pcs? ain't those viruses possible to run on a windows powered smartphone? they're the same os, right??

[Guest PsychoDave]

Similar but not the same. You've seen how many apps transfer across from PPC to Smartphone but then again most virii ain't that complex in code terms.

The last time this was brought up the best arguement was that it wouldn't run as it wasn't signed by orange but since a large number of us have de-certed that becomes a moot point.

At the end of the day we won't see anti-virus software until some twisted lil so and so writes one that can affect us.

Hopefully that day won't come. :?

[Guest NederSoren]

it would be possible to write a virus.. But it would be very hard to share it.. If someone posted it here on modaco, it would be spread out that it was a virus pretty fast, before to many people DL'ed it.. And i you are downloading some freeware from eg. mono.org you can be totaly sure that it is tested by other users.. :)

So my point is that, i dont think anyone wold write a virus, as it would be almost imposible to spread it.. :?

[Guest Terwin]

it would be possible to write a virus.. But it would be very hard to share it.. If someone posted it here on MoDaCo, it would be spread out that it was a virus pretty fast, before to many people DL'ed it.. And i you are downloading some freeware from eg. mono.org you can be totaly sure that it is tested by other users.. :)

So my point is that, i dont think anyone wold write a virus, as it would be almost imposible to spread it..  :?

Er, it is very easy to share a virus with a smartphone. It might not effect the phone but it might effect the computer you transfer the infected files to. I often put pdf and ms word files on my phone to bring between work and home.

[Guest mark_g_james]

Er, it is very easy to share a virus with a smartphone. It might not effect the phone but it might effect the computer you transfer the infected files to. I often put pdf and ms word files on my phone to bring between work and home.

It's not the fact that a smartphone can be used to carry a virus, much like a floppy disk could, but the fact that a smartphone is a device that connects to internet and email natively.

It's not hard to imagine an app that can propagate using GPRS email to other smartphones, scanning address books and sending itself on.

But there are two factors that would make this improbable, firstly the market infiltration of smartphones is very low, so the infection rate would be almost non-existent - a Symbian OS virus would have a much greater chance of propagation as there are many more phones running it.

Secondly, application signing is a perfect way to stop unauthorised code, such as a virus, from executing on any machine. And although most of us have decerted our phones at the application level, I am led to believe that applications still cannot make direct system calls since that requires a higher level of certificate that only MS could issue.

However, I personally think that Orange have potentially opened a Pandora's box by allowing the decertification of all smartphones. A smarter alternative would be to make signing free, with a certificate revocation list being available in case something should go wrong.

Just my 2p :)

Mark.

[Guest Monolithix [MVP]]

Only Orange can sign with privilidged access (on Orange handsets at least), i believe there is no privilidged root MS cert on any Orange phones.

So if any virus, for the majority of SmartPhone2002 users, would be rendered useless unless signed by Orange.

NB: The signings performed by Baltimore/Geotrust and Verisign only sign with unprivilidged access. So when you buy an "Orange certified" app it will still only be able to use the OS side of the phone, not any of the GSM features (GPRS/SMS/Telephony/etc).

[Guest fraser]

With an unlocked phone, a virus could easily zap your phone, any app has the permissions to screw up the registry or delete files. I'm sure with a little poking around, someone will figure out how to break through into the priviledged side of things. It's only a matter of time until a virus hits this OS. The question is how will it infect users? And will it be able to locate and infect other phones. For example, it could SMS a link to a Pocket IE exploit site to other users.

At that point, we should start worrying.