Hi Guys,
2009 is going to be a year where mobile phones will be subjected tp attacks by viruses and so called dialers that used to be running riot in the dialup days.
Anyone testing any antivirus and firewall products.
I am testing trend micro mobile security. I have yet to test with a virus though.
Any ideas.
Thats a claim made pretty much by only AV companies trying to cash in on the increasing hysteria about mobile phones.
They cost money, and slow down the phone, and sometimes cause issues.
And whats the point of testing with a virus? It's utterly pointless.
Just because it finds a virus used for testing (which will be in the definitions as its known), doesn't mean the latest nasty virus will be detected.
Whole lot of bluster about nothing.
just be sensible with what you do to your phone and what you put on it...
Steve's points are still valid:
http://3lib.ukonline.co.uk/viruses.htm
Perhaps lochdara works for Trend Micro and is "covertly" advertising? At least the first statement is more like a marketing message than something a real user would write.
I just have to say i dont work for antivirus companies. But i do know if i have a small virus and i allow my phone to be part on my company then i have possibly allowed a virus or spyware to access the network also. My info came from a selling company okay... namely message labs, I am a network admin concerned about security and see how trends are changing with regard to virus and spyware problems. Anyone else a network admin and whats to comment?
i just posting a comment to help and aid others. Trend and f-secure actually worked well on my phone. it didnt slow it down and at least i know i am some what protoected. My xda can be used for quite interesting practices with the knowlegde and knowhow???
Its just something to think about!!!!...........
Good. Apologies for suspecting you to be a spammer (many spammers try to pretent to be normal users, and you used very marketing oriented language).
There is no trend that shows 2009 to be subject to mobile viruses any more than it was in 2008, which wasn't very big in that respect, and neither was the year before.
Please, do read Steve's article I pointed you to in my earlier reply. It will explain why you're not really under any threat of viruses with your phone.
apology accepted.; but as these guys are investing lots in cracking pc anti spam software i believe they will also hit phones. now 2009 may not be the year but as nokia and others are making phones much better and more mini pc like its going to head that way for these guys.
I read steves article but like any other advise i can give people, its based on the best knowledge of that day and not for the future. I know i will get a call from message labs selling me something that i dont really want but i will take on board their predictions for the future especially because i am looking into it for a few months now anyway. So if they the company think a little bit like me the ordinary admin then there "could" be something to it.
my info is based on the following
www.messagelabs.com/mlireport/MLI_Predictions_Annual2009_FINAL.pdf
they also sent me a paper a few weeks ago that seen everything they mention happen to me or others i know.
All we can do is wait and see,..
Malcolm
There's nothing to it as far as Symbian based phones go. The new S60 5th Edition and Symbian 9.4/9.5 do not change a thing in this respect from previous versions, so what Steve's article says will still be valid for the next couple of years. At least, if not longer.
Not even the "open sourcing" of Symbian will change things; it'll take a year or two before all of Symbian/S60 source code is open, and it still can't be used to make custom firmware versions.
Of course, whether there's more risk with, e.g., Android or OSX (iPhone) devices, I don't know. For iPhone users the risks is presumably biggest for "jailbroken" iPhones, and not the vasta majority of typical users. And still, even if Apple grows iPhone sales by 100%, it'll only impact 30 million out of 2.5 billion mobile phone users in the world. In the Android case the impact is to even fewer people.
Mobile viruses are not a big issue or risk now, and they're not going to be in the foreseeable future.
Installing a mobile phone virus scanner today is a waste of money, waste of storage space, waste of run-time memory, waste of processing power/performance, waste of energy (battery) and waste of thinking it gives you "piece of mind" or any more security than you already have.
And of course anyone is free to feel differently, and go spend their money on virus scanners, and use up their phone's storage space, RAM, CPU performance, battery and live happily ever after in the bliss of ignorance. 😉
And the biggest defense by far will be common sense (as always).
Mobile phone viruses are not as easy to catch and define for AV companies - its not like they will be running around the net.
You simply cannot get applications that install themselves without permission from the user onto a Symbian phone.
So even if it is virus rife (which wont be for many years), then you will still have to install it yourself.
The AV companies are at the moment preaching utter rubbish.
S60-3 OS is very much one of the safest platforms out there when it comes to viruses.
Why?
You need to have signed applications before you can install anything (unless you have hacked your phone to allow all - which you can stop anyway using caps-on).
Its hard enough as it is to install demo or freeware utilities (cough.. cough.. rotate me) without it being signed with the Nokia Root certificate or with a development cert. How do you think Viruses will come onto the phone otherwise?
The original S60-1 and 2 generations had a bit of a wrap about viruses at the time. Even then it was mainly because they receive an SIS type file on their phones from unknown sources and decide to run it. These days, SIS files are pretty restrictive and unless you authorise it and having some 3rd part transfer library (BTObex), then you simply cannot do anyway.
We have a pretty close alliance to Symantec here where I work and I grin and laugh every time they try to tell us that even S60 phones can be under threat. There simply are NO viruses of sorts for the S60-3 platform at this stage..!!
lochdara wrote: But i do know if i have a small virus and i allow my phone to be part on my company then i have possibly allowed a virus or spyware to access the network also. My info came from a selling company okay... namely message labs, I am a network admin concerned about security and see how trends are changing with regard to virus and spyware problems. Anyone else a network admin and whats to comment?
I haven't kept up to date with what anti virus is available for the current s60 phones because like everyone else has said there is no need for it. But as far as I am aware they only scan for symbian virus, all those that used to infect s60 v1/2 phones if you were foolish enough to install one. If this is still the case then running an anti virus on your phone wouldn't make it any more secure when you introduce it into the network at work because if for example you have an infected file on your phone that you received in an email that could infect a pc, the symbian anti virus wouldnt detect it.
If you are concerned about introducing a virus into the netword via a phone then you have some serious security issues at work, theres more chance of passing a virus on from a USB flash drive than a phone.
i shall leave it at that so..
thanks for your input. s60 is new to me and i try to gather info from whatever sources is available.
Have a good christmas.
Hi,
You may try exoVirusStop:
http://www.exosyphen.com/page_exovirusstop-symbian.html
If you have an older S60 (1st and 2nd edition), the version for those phone is now available for free at: