The structure of PalmOS is such that a "virus" or "worm" in the classic sense, while not impossible to write, is darned difficult to propogate. There really isn't a way for malicious code to add itself to an already existing binary. It could conceivably attach itself, but there really isn't a way to get the system call it once it has done so.
About the only you could do is write a trojan. Even then, there is no way for it to surreptitiously send itself to anoth palm device. When a binary IR beams or bluetooth transmits itself, a notification pops up on the receiver. The receiver must accept the program in. Once a malicious piece of software is in place, it can set alarms to cause itself to be invoked repeatedly, so, yes, and evil program can be loaded. And since there is no real protection mechanism on data, it could wipe or modify all the data on the handheld. But it really can't replicate itself. We haven't seen viruses for PalmOS really. And while malicious code is possible, it really isn't possible to write the the kind of self-reinfecting code that more advanced OSes make possible. Basically, there's no sport in wrecking a PalmOS handheld. It's like putting a shell script called "ls" on a Unix system that runs "rm -rf /". Sure, you can do it, but what's the thrill? Besides which, if a program load bricks your handheld, you wipe it and do a restore sync. You can't bring a program payload over in sending or receiving mail, in beaming addresses, etc. At least not with the standard Palm apps. > Thanks for the idea. As for what I will be watching for, we have already > developed the same program on other platforms, we know what to look for > and > how to deal with it when we find it. I just would like to find a way to > make the scanner work full time, given it the same functionality as the > scanner we have for windows mobile. at this point it looks like it may > have > to be a scanner that will only be activated by the user, unless i can > figure > a way for it to run in the background. > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Douglas Handy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Palm Developer Forum" <[email protected]> > Sent: Friday, April 08, 2005 10:15 AM > Subject: Re: Running a Background Procsess On Garnet > > >> Scott, >> >>>I would like to know if anyone knows how to run a background process. >> >> AFAIK, under Garnet you would need to do this by running it in a >> callback >> for a >> sound stream thread. This may seem counterintuitive, but I think it is >> the only >> mechanism exposed by Garnet where you can have a background process get >> some >> timeslice. >> >>>I need it to be able to scan bluetooth, >>>SMS and email everytime data is sent to the device through one of these >>>data >>>channels. Any ideas??? >> >> Look for a new job or project? >> >> Seriously, even if you accomplish a background process and intercepting >> all comm >> traffic, just what do you think you will be watching for? >> >> Doug >> >> -- >> For information on using the Palm Developer Forums, or to unsubscribe, >> please see http://www.palmos.com/dev/support/forums/ >> >> > > > > -- > For information on using the Palm Developer Forums, or to unsubscribe, > please see http://www.palmos.com/dev/support/forums/ > -- Michael Schwarz -- For information on using the Palm Developer Forums, or to unsubscribe, please see http://www.palmos.com/dev/support/forums/
