First Mobile Phone Virus Nears 2nd Birthday 101
An anonymous reader writes "ZDNet is reporting that the first mobile phone virus is almost 2 years old. F-Secure's chief research officer Mikko Hyppönen claims that although there are now over 200 mobile phone viruses the problem is unlikely to get as bad as it has with PCs. 'The difference is that PC viruses were first found in 1986 and mobile phone viruses were found in 2004... So we are living in the equivalent of 1988 but in 1988 Microsoft or hardware manufacturers were not doing anything about viruses ... In the mobile phone world, all the mobile phone manufacturers are working on the problem as are the phone operating system manufacturers, like Symbian, Microsoft and Palm. Operators are on top of this.'"
PC != Windows. (Score:2, Insightful)
Sorry?
I wasn't aware that PCs had a virus problem.
As far as I can tell, running a Personal Computer does not make you susceptible, running windows makes you susceptible. People running a decent O/S on their PC (OS X / openBSD / linux / etc) seem to be no more susceptible to viruses then phones are.
(Interestingly enough, this ties into my latest journal - "Why is Apple afraid of being PC" [slashdot.org])
Anway, back to the article, in addition
Seems you're not so immune (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Seems you're not so immune (Score:2)
hahahaha
Point taken. When I write quickly, I have trouble distinguishing between then/than (and also their/there, but I'm more concious of that).
I'm not from the US however. I presume you're from the UK - in which case you should know that there's illiterates everywhere people can read & write....
Re:Seems you're not so immune (Score:2)
Re:Seems you're not so immune (Score:2, Insightful)
Frankly, I think there are more illiterates where people can't read or write.
Re:Seems you're not so immune (Score:1, Offtopic)
Illiterate in the sense the GP used - people who can write, but don't correctly use then/than.
Re:Seems you're not so immune (Score:1)
Re:Seems you're not so immune (Score:2)
Straight over my head.... *sighs* and I accuse others of taking
Thanks
Re:Seems you're not so immune (Score:1)
When I was in NYC with my friends we noticed that almost everyone there said "yuh know wha'm sayin'?" at the end of almost every sentence. For fun we started slurring "you know I'm insane?" instead, much to our amusment. We shared this bit of info with our hosts and the amusement was all round.
Glad you took it in the spirit it was intended.
Re:PC != Windows. (Score:2)
Desktop operating systems, whether that be Windows, Linux or Mac OS do not have such an architecture. They're all quite trivial to crack if you really want to.
Re:PC != Windows. (Score:2)
Errr right OK. Maybe you should consider the fact that you don't have to stick a *nix box behind a firewall if you don't want to (although its more sensible to do so) because you can turn services off.
Also, would you care to explain to me how your beloved *nix servers dominated the server vulne
Re:PC != Windows. (Score:1)
Apparently you aren't either. Otherwise your orignal post wouldn't have been modded 0.
Don't you have anything better to do that sit around and reflame people that flamed your ignorant post?Re:PC != Windows. (Score:2)
Considering your entry to the thread included:
that *NIX users weren't completely ignorant.
I would say that you started flamin' first.
Re:PC != Windows. (Score:1)
Care to name the windows services which you can't turn off? I wouldn't put any machine outside of a firewall that I didn't have to. I'm also curious if anyone repeated that experient with sticking an XP machine directly on a cable modem to see how long it took to become compromised, but with SP2.
Re:PC != Windows. (Score:2)
RPC.
Re:PC != Windows. (Score:1)
I guess if you want to be fair, you can't exactly turn off IPC in *nix either, can you?
Care to try again?
Re:PC != Windows. (Score:2)
Do you mean firewalled or disabled? There is a difference you know...
I guess if you want to be fair, you can't exactly turn off IPC in *nix either, can you?
Interprocess communication & remote procedure call are completely different things (and RPC is off by default in my version of *nix)
FWIW:
nmap ubuntu_dapper:
nmap xpsp2 (firewall on):
Re:PC != Windows. (Score:2)
Hmmm... if you are under the impression that you can't turn services off in Windows, you are mistaken. Quite easy to do.
Re:PC != Windows. (Score:2)
(Not firewall, stop)
Re:PC != Windows. (Score:2)
Don't get a falso sense of security if you have a firewall and a sensible approach to email attachments. Surfing the web is a major infection vector for Windows machines. A Windows security policy has to include something like running Firefox with the Noscript extension, and picking up Internet Explorer with tongs and putt
Re:PC != Windows. (Score:2)
When you get a
While I agree that user interaction is responsible for many problems, what if your OS picked up & executed executable attachments without user interaction? (see, the OS is important)!
BTW, what do you mean by a "decent O/S" ?
* One with good privilige seperation?
* One where you don't run as superuser by def
Re:PC != Windows. (Score:1)
Wrong ! The mail client is important !
Use of a stupid mail client under Linux could doom you just as well as doing so under Windows, provided the virus has enough privileges to cripple the machine and/or is smart enough to escalate to a higher running level (stupid root password for instance).
Still the OS is not the c
Re:PC != Windows. (Score:3, Insightful)
I know some people who were working at Microsoft when "I LOVE YOU" hit, and it propagated through the internal corporate network just fine.
Any network is hostile if it lets endpoints talk to endpoints and if the endpoints aren't trustworthy.
PC == Personal Computer (Score:2, Informative)
This misnomer always bothered me.
I disagree (Score:3, Insightful)
I also don't think anyone expected there to be so many machines attached to each other as we have now.
Basically, I don't think that a cell phone virus would have nearly the impact of even a simple PC virus due to the fact that (as the article states) people just aren't that unprepared anymore. Maybe if we all were given wide open Windows !Smart Phones? Besides - I think my carrier would probably *charge* me to run a virus
-WS
Disagree all you like, doesn't make it true (Score:3, Interesting)
http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_1169.htm [nai.com]
Stoned
Type
Virus
SubType
Boot
Discovery Date
02/01/1988
Re:Disagree all you like, doesn't make it true (Score:1)
The "Your PC is now stoned" message brings back so many memories. Thanks...... I think.
Re:Disagree all you like, doesn't make it true (Score:2)
What I was saying is that the AV companies are trumping this up as "Oh noes! We're at the beginning of a massive onslaught of viruses for cell phones!". I disagree that we are seeing any such thing.
In 1988 things like Stoned came out (as you point out). However, the early viruses propagated mainly via shared files and boot disks. Cell phones by and large share only SMS messages, which go through a centrally controlled server (not a random ad-hoc network like email). SMS is very in
Re:Disagree all you like, doesn't make it true (Score:2)
Plus, imagine if someone figured out a worm for something popular, like a razr, and promuglated it over bluetooth.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Disagree all you like, doesn't make it true (Score:1)
heh, if only it was that easy. I tried to download and install IM software to my phone; to finish the installation, the phone had to reset. It did, but it never again go past the first verizon screen. It instead reset itself again and again.
Verizon couldn't fix it (actually they blamed me), so the phone is now trash.
Re:Disagree all you like, doesn't make it true (Score:1)
(Note that I am in no way recommen
Re:Disagree all you like, doesn't make it true (Score:2)
> I also don't think anyone expected there to be so many machines attached to each other as we have now.
In 1988 Fidonet had already been running for 4 years.
Compuserve had POPs all over Europe.
I first encountered Cabir in King's Cross train station in London, I'd left my Bluetooth on after toothing on the train.
If you think people are unprepared, walk into a pub and search for Bluetooth handsets. And if you think that Joe Average has the slight
Re:I disagree (Score:2)
So what does it matter if people are prepared for it? How has being prepared stopped Windows viruses and worms? And even if preparedness could stop viruses on the whole, it isn't like us
Re:I disagree (Score:1)
Actually, it's bullshit^2. Cabir was a proof of concept [thefeaturearchives.com] by 29a and was released in the wild without their consent. [netlux.org]
But what could you expect of zdnet? Professional writing?
Re:I disagree (Score:2)
The reason personal computers will always be susceptible is because they're general purpose computers. A phone which only serves as a phone can not ge
Cellphone viruses (Score:1)
My N70 had norton (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't think mobile phone virus threat is much due to the varieties in platform the phones run.. Its just another way for anti virus companies to make money
Re:My N70 had norton (Score:1)
mine does. ;)
* lon3st4r *
Was at F-Secure event today (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Was at F-Secure event today (Score:1, Insightful)
Yes
"Are you sure? It's not signed"
Yes
"Are you positive, it could have come from anywhere!"
Yes
"Ok"
Damn phone!! why can't it just make phone calls! boohoo
FUD (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:FUD (Score:2)
Re:FUD (Score:1)
Re:FUD (Score:1)
Because I think there is no one.
Easy way to prevent viruses (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Easy way to prevent viruses (Score:2, Interesting)
I think we need to take a more serious look at this problem. In the 70's and 80's, people laughed off the possibility of threats like th
Ground control to Major Tom (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Ground control to Major Tom (Score:2)
What I perceive happening at some point is a rogue group creating viruses to steal contacts then selling those contacts. Imagine the market for say Pamela Anderson's phone list... Imagine one for say the phone list of the President.
I assume these rogue groups aren't interested in Pamela Anderson's email contact list
or the President's email contact list but only in their phone lists for some reason.
Re:Ground control to Major Tom (Score:1)
Can't, sorry
Today FUD, but tomorrow ...Umts,etc.... (Score:1)
That's why it's important too take in account those potential threads when designing today the phones of tomorrow. We have a long experience with Os's and viruses, much major mistakes can still be avoid
Re:Wake up and smell the zeroes dude ;) (Score:1)
The summary.... (Score:1, Offtopic)
Oh, BS (Score:1)
OT: apostrophe (Score:1)
yeah, "on top of the problem" (Score:2, Insightful)
nobody will be able to crack that
Vira (Score:2)
- iPod(tm) through infected MP3s
- bluetooth earpieces through special whistles
- digital wrist whatches through vired organic batteries
Re:Vira (Score:1)
Makes me glad... (Score:1)
Viral birthdays (Score:2)
Only on January 5th. Happy birthday Joshi [nai.com].
1986? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:1986? (Score:1)
Well, they specifically said "first PC virus". The first virus on PC was Brain [wikipedia.org], which was in 1986.
Problem with the entire premise (Score:2)
The phone OSes, oblivious to every lesson from the desktop world, are allowing software downloaded from a hostile network to do things that cost the user money and to propagate itself. If the OS makers were "prepared" they'd all be running that code in sandboxes, or virtualized, or at the very least with egress filtering ("Do you want to send
Less of problem because.... (Score:2)
OS designers only need to do one thing (Score:2)
Mobile phone OS designers have made the exact same mistake and in an environment that is far more conducive to viruses.
Re:OS designers only need to do one thing (Score:1)
interesting article (Score:1)
It is a very good summary of the known viruses and prevention mechanisms for Symbian phones.
I Don't Think So (Score:2)
To quote Roger Rabbit: "I don't think so."
If anyone was on top of this, there wouldn't be over 200 mobile phone viruses out in the wild. There would be none.
Saw this happen (Score:1)
Happy birthday, dear virus (Score:1)
First one is older than 2 years! (Score:1)
http://specials.ft.com/telecoms/sep00/FT3R3BJ29DC
new viruses (Score:2)
my point is, i believe it is easier to prey on human weakn
Moot point. (Score:1)
1. Business persons using them in a PDA style application.
and
2. Silly boys/girls with rich parents who think they're better people because their phones are more expensive.
Now I find it unlikely that a business person would accept a bluetooth transfer if they didn't know what it was, assuming they weren't in a rush at the time. Even if they WERE in a rush, they'd probably walk out of transfer range