McAfee Unveils Anti-Virus Protection for Wireless Devices By Mobile Computing SANTA CLARA, CA, November 3, 2000, 12:20 p.m. EDT -- As mobile telephones expand their reach from mere voice communications devices to paging, text functions and Internet access, the inevitable spoilsports are designing viruses, Trojan horses and malicious code to attack the new "smart phones." To combat these dangers, McAfee, a Network Associates company, today said it was releasing the world's first anti-virus product for wireless devices. McAfee's products already are among of the most popular anti-virus remedies available on the market. Michael Callahan, the company's director of product marketing, said that some attacks on mobile devices have already occurred, but the new product, VirusScan Wireless for Mobile, is more of a preemptive strike. "If you can picture a normal cell phone in your left hand, and a Palm, Windows CE or other handheld organizer-type device in your right hand, the two are merging into smart phones," he said. "As the functionality of these devices increases, and as they get more memory, we are seeing more viruses. The support is actually in advance of the threat." He said the first true virus found oon a handheld product was the PalmOS/Phage virus. "It replicates itself on the device, going from application to application," he said. "It is low-risk, because the person has to actively seek it out to download it, but it is a blueprint for future viruses," Callahan explained. The LibertyCrack Trojan was another program written to attack handhelds, Callahan said. "It was disguised as access to the Liberty game for Palm Pilot," he said. "Palm users were able to access part of the game, but not all of it. LibertyCrack said it would give access to the whole game, so people downloaded it. Instead, it dropped its payload, which consisted of deleting third-party applications." Callahan said that the schemes attacking cell phones have been mostly hoax-related so far, but the company wanted to address potential future threats that are sure to come. "In Europe, where you have much more smart phone usage, one common hoax is related to banking," he said. "The user gets a message that says it is from a person working on security for the user's bank. The message asks for confirmation of the account number and PIN. The person says, 'Of course I want to be secure,' and then gives the information to the person, who is not from the bank, but is a robber. "Another thing we see is denial of service," he continued. "In Japan, there was a hoax related to DoCoMo, where people thought they were playing a game, but it really dialed 911. The denial of service hoaxes rely on many people to call in at once and overwhelm the service provider's bandwidth." According to the company, the VirusScan Wireless for Mobile product can initially be used with the Nokia Communicator, Ericsson R380 and the Handspring VisorPhone. It will be able to automatically update virus definition files through the smart phone's Internet access. More information on McAfee is on the Web at www.mcafeeb2b.com -- Eko Sulistiono MIKRODATA & AntiVirus Media Web: http://www.mikrodata.co.id/ WAP: http://www.mikrodata.co.id/wap/index.wml This message contains no viruses. Guaranteed by AVP. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Forum Komunikasi Penulis-Pembaca MIKRODATA (FKPPM) Informasi : http:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Arsip : http://www.mail-archive.com/forum%40mikrodata.co.id/ WAP : http://mikrodata.co.id/wap/index.wml Milis ini menjadi kontribusi beberapa rubrik yang diasuh tim MIKRODATA. Termasuk rubrik-rubrik yang ada di media lain. Memakai, Menyebarluaskan, dan Memperbanyak software bajakan adalah tindakan kriminal. Please check with the latest AVP update before you ask about virus: ftp://mikrodata.co.id/avirus_&_security/AntiViral_Toolkit_Pro/avp30.zip
