Viruses & Malwares can infect Smartphones and mobile devices

Posted on April 30, 2011 by admin
Malware, or Malicious Software, is a computer program or computer code designed to secretly access your computer system with deceptive intent. Malware is typically disguised as a program that you download from the internet or is installed on your computer without your knowledge. Malware can come in the form of a computer virus, a computer worm (self-replicating), a trojan horse (programs that on the outside appear to do something other than what they do), spyware, adware and even basic computer code. Malware can steal personal information stored on your computer, open your computer to further attack, or allow other deceptive practices toward you and your computer system. You may have malware on your computer and not even know it. Many malware programs look like otherwise legitimate programs but carry with them deceptive intent. Your laptop, computer, and/or smartphone are all susceptible to malware.[1]

The phone has advanced exponentially, while users have not caught up and realized that they are walking around with a computer,” says Mark Olson, a manager at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. That’s shown by the success of Apple’s iPhone. Its users are among the first to do intensive and extensive mobile Web browsing, enabled by the performance of the phone’s Safari browser. But Web browsing also enables a range of malware for smartphones in general. “If you go to Twitter [on the Web], you have to rely on Twitter security,” says Tom Henderson, managing director for ExtremeLabs in Indianapolis. “You can get cross-site exploits that can dive down into the phone’s browser. Then, it’s a problem.” “Anything that is network connected and can be altered is a potential threat,’ says Rob Enderle, principal analyst for Enderle Group, a technology advisory firm in San Jose. The growing “sociableness” of smartphones, via everything from e-mailing to instant messaging and even texting, all provide opportunities for tricking users into downloading malware, he says.[2]
Smartphones today come with little or no protection against network threats, but consumers have little understanding about how exposed their devices are. Smartphones are able to do many of the functions a PC can, from accessing bank accounts to trading stocks, plus they keep information a PC wouldn’t have: records of phone calls and precise location and presence information. The awareness of the wireless network threat, however, has been muted by the fact there have been relatively few high-profile instances of viruses or data theft from Smartphones.[3] ”

Despite the increasing sophistication of Smartphones and other mobile devices, viruses and malware don’t plague the wireless industry the way they do the personal and business computing worlds. Unlike the iPhone which uses a closed application distribution model driven by Apple’s App Store, Android software can come from anywhere — the Web, third-party app stores, even embedded in an e-mail, said Dan Nadir, director of product management for Symantec.[4] While few believe security threats against iPhones, iPads, Android and their many cousins have reached the level seen in the Web-based Internet environment against the PC, there’s acknowledgement that attackers are increasingly likely to see mobile devices as attractive targets for malware and social-engineering exploits as device adoption grows. [5]

DroidSecurity is one of the first companies to provide antivirus software for the android platform and they seem to be doing very well, with 2.5 million downloads already.[6] Symantec launch Norton Everywhere with a suite of services and applications targeting Android and Apple iPhone devices as well the growing number of non-PC devices connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi and home networks. The most familiar service in that suite is a mobile version of its Norton Antivirus software, initially for Android phones only, which identifies malicious applications and software before they’re downloaded and installed onto a device. It will also scan applications already installed on a device to see if they are doing anything suspicious, such as accessing phone logs and phone books and relaying that information across the network, and warn users about just what their apps are doing.[7]

Antivirus software is not one of those things that you think about when you’re dealing with a smartphone, or you don’t think you should. But when you take into account some of the malicious coders that are creating android applications that have no other purpose than to infect your phone, steal your information or to do some other perverse functions, you have to start thinking about how do I protect myself?[8]

 

Footnotes

1. Protect Your Laptop, Computer, and Smartphone From Malware | Computer Security | September 14th, 2010 at 2:30 pm

2. Are smartphone viruses really a threat to your network? Not yet, but give them time… | By John Cox | Network World US | Published: 21:00 GMT, 23 June 08

3. Protecting the smartphone from malware | By Kevin Fitchard | May 27, 2010

4. Protecting the smartphone from malware | By Kevin Fitchard | May 27, 2010

5. Smartphones, devices spark IT security “mobile melee” | iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry devices challenge IT security efforts | By Ellen Messmer, Network World | February 28, 2011 06:02 AM ET

6. Android Anti-virus Security | By Larry Henry | October 13, 2010

7. Protecting the smartphone from malware | By Kevin Fitchard | May 27, 2010

8. Android Anti-virus Security | By Larry Henry | October 13, 2010

All three smartphone operating system (OS) leaders—Apple’s iOS, RIM’s Blackberry and Google’s Android—operate in fierce competitions, have benefitted the consumers, with innovative products in device design, user friendliness and lots of applications. Not distancing itself from the competitions is Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7.

 

Nokia, which has had difficulty responding to the rise of Android and Apple’s iPhone, announced last week it was phasing out Symbian and switching to Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 smartphone OS.[1]

 

The pervasive competitions notwithstanding, it is lacking in openness in the OS. Microsoft is following in the footsteps of Apple in keeping tight control over its respective OS. Even so, both Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer and Nokia’s Stephen Elop have emphasized at the Mobile World Congress, they intend to work closely with developers to ensure that outside developers create lots of applications for Windows Phone 7 to ensure its popularity with consumers. [2]

 

In conclusion, consumers can look forward to innovative smartphones of better device design, user friendliness and lots of applications. Beyond smartphones, the next level of mobile phones, called NirvanaPhones, can be docked with an external display and keyboard to create a desktop or laptop environment. [3] The technology race in smartphones seems to push the smartphones to being similar to tablet PCs, albeit smaller in size.

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