Norton apparently doesn’t give up-they just released yet another Palm OS antivirus application. Symbian users currently fight hundreds of virii with multiple antivirus programs. If you combine those two news bits, you may believe that Palm OS may soon face an all-new wave of virii.
I dare to predict that Garnet and 68k machines are reasonably safe and will not face major virus epidemics like Series 60 cabirs,…for one simple reason:
No Multitasking=no easy reproduction
The thing that kept Cabir alive was that it could replicate itself WITHOUT blocking basic system operations. The Bluetooth radio was sending out data permanently, but the phone still stayed operational. On a Treo, things would look different. The Bluetooth stack runs in the context of the foreground app, thus, the handheld cannot be used while the virus replicates.
This means that users would find out about the virus very fast-and would hard reset their handhelds busting the malware. The insane, unnoticed replication of Cabir would not be possible, each virus would live less than a day until it is noticed.
Do you believe that we will see new virii?
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No, I don’t think we’ll ever see viruses that have any impact on the Palm OS as it is. The multi-tasking is one issue, and others have already said this before me, but I think that the simple fact that you have to accept anything you receive on your Palm device, be it through an e-mail or an application someone beams or sends with bluetooth, you have to accept it so if your a cautious user you can avoid accepting things your not sure of. And more so, virus writers want to affect as many systems as they can, and despite how much us palm geeks love our devices, they’re aren’t nearly as many of us as there are Windows PC users. So virus writers target the most prevalent systems for maximum effect. I would worry more if I had a Windows Mobile device though, since those devices have a completely different OS which I suspect is more likely to be attacked for the simple fact alone it’s Microsoft, hehe.
Hi,
but you also need to accept every Symbian file you get. I already stored Caribe on my Siemens SX1 for quite some time, but there was no problem as I didnt install the sis file.
About Windows Mobile: um, that makes a good next target. But they would IMHO go for BlackBerries(if possible, dont know their IOS) before…
Best regards
Tam Hanna
I’ve never thought of the situation in the way that you’ve explained it. I very much agree with your theory. Windows Mobile will make a fine ‘juicy’ target for the virus factories (and we all know just how well Micro$oft responds to security problems), particularly given their recent emphasis on the smartphone market…
–ryan
Hi,
to be honest, I am not sure if any platform vendor really does a good job/takes mobile virii and BT attacks seriously.
In fact, the german c’t magazine reported about a security hole in the bluretooth stack of a few Motorola phones..and the pres department told them that they won’t patch them as they only occur when the phone is visible..hahaha…
Best regards
Tam Hanna
The interest of Norton in PalmOS virii is yet another proof for the myth that virii are created by the same companies that create antiviruses…