Security Firms Bicker Over Mobile Viruses

Fijer Nrosikjen writes to mention a ZDNet article about a claim by CA that F-Secure is just spreading FUD over mobile virus code, in order to promote its product. From the article: "CA said criminals do not have an economic incentive to develop malicious code and that the risk of such attacks spreading around smart phones is minimal because of a lack of interoperability between platforms and phone models. Network services don't allow for the fast spreading of code from phone to phone, and user interaction is required for any viruses to spread, the company added. It said F-Secure has created an atmosphere of fear, uncertainty and doubt to sell its product, undermining the relationship of trust that has been established between the industry and vendors. "

ZDNet US link

[Anonymous Coward]

Quicker than ZDNet Asia: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6097733.html/ [zdnet.com]

Thank god

[mgblst]

... that microsoft doesn't make OS for mobile phones (or at least not all of them).

Most mobiles run J2ME, and you can't do anything interesting in J2ME. You can't even get the whole screen on some mobiles, let alone use directory services. And because J2ME allows the phone creators to load on different modules to there phones (JSR-182, etc), you don't even know if you will be able to do something when you get to a phone. You would have to be very clever indeed!

So...

[CtrlPhreak]

These people are angry at another company for having a MARKETING department? It's just too bad this is what you do to sell computer security products to the masses, because masses of people are stupid and overly swayed by emotions.

Re:NAME ONE! That wasn't it!

[Nos.]

And its relatively easy to keep a box patched, run anti-virus and anti-spyware, yet old exploits are still being used to turn desktops into zombies. Just because people can do it, doesn't mean they do.

Re:Um...

[gothzilla]

That's why there are so many people making cash hand over foot reinstalling windows for people who supposedly don't need AV. I live in a city of 25,000 people and there are 4 successful businesses that spend 90% of their time cleaning machines of viruses and reinstalling windows.

So yeah, you don't really need AV. Yeah.

Also, since when do people have to manually update their antivirus? There's this thing called auto-update. If you're talking about re-subscribing then that's different. Sure, most people don't re-subscribe, but then thats why those 4 businesses here are still in business.

You can't say cars don't really need oil changes because nobody ever changes their oil. That just makes zero sense.

I had a phone virus.

[celardore]

I looked it up on the net, and out what it was. Can't remember off the top of my head though. It's purpose was to spread itself to other Nokia bluetooth enabled devices, and apparently in the early hours of the morning it would call premium rate numbers.

Trouble was, it hammered the battery with its constant bluetooth searching that it would only last a few hours before dying. Plus the constant "bluetooth busy" symbol on the phone was a dead giveaway.

Funilly enough, it was F-Secure that I used to get rid of it.

No financial incentive for viruses?

[collectivescott]

Are these guys kidding? This is a mobile phone, there's plenty of financial incentives for viruses. Mainly in the form of 900 numbers or text messages. Check out this Symbian virus: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6273&l pos=home1 [newscientist.com]

Sir Edmund Hillary Quote:

[mpapet]

Reporter asks Hillary: "Why did you climb Everest?"

Hillary: "Because it's there"

Same story, different environment.