Related
I'm looking for an anti-theft app. I don't know if it exists yet.
Is there an equivalent to the symbian phone apps "Anti-thief" or "EzProtect"? It has some nice features to let your pda "phone home" when someone is tinkering with it, or you can remotely disable your pda by sending a password though sms.
I've been searching over the net and found "Kill-pda" but that can only erase the device completely by sms. Thats a bit overkill :lol:
I hope someone knows, because i learned the hard way that you really need an app like this. My phone got stolen once and I got a Huge A$$$ bill for calling to egypt en italy
edit: I found this description for EzProtect:
The application sends an SMS to your specified number as soon as the SIM card has been changed. By this way, you receive SMS on your friend's (or whoever's number u defined) cell with the thief's cellnumber and SIM number (IMSI) so it becomes very easy to track the thief.
I definately want an app that can do this. And I can imagine a lot of people wanting it too.
There was a discussion about this on HoFo in Oct ober when people first started receiving their Wizards. I think BTT (BeyondtheTech) mentioned something about it. I'll see if I can track it down this evening.
It certainly would be cool.
Check this out! http://www.ppcsg.com/index.php?s=0c0cedfa906ae1b85f844fb7b497def6&showtopic=65021
Hope this works. I have not tried this myself.
Thanks a lot for your help, but that was the program i mentioned in the threadstart "PDAKill".
The only thing it can do is erase the device completely when you send a sms to your pda containing a predifined password.
But when the thief takes out the simcard and puts in his own, then this program would be useless.
Guys, if I've seemed distracted for the last few days, this is why:
I've been working on a program called VJAccioPhone.
It is used to detect if your phone has been stolen and to permit remote use of the stolen phone. Your phone doesn't have to be stolen, eg if for some reason your wife is likely to discover your "niece's" affectionate messages to you, you can send a password protected remote keyword to format your phone and hardreset it. I'm sure you can think of better examples!
It's an expansion of some code I wrote for my unreleased plugin, VJEphemeris, which you can read about here. The release version allows you to do pretty much anything you can do with the phone when it's in your hand, all remotely. Destructive and constructive control.
This is a pre-announcement. I don't like preannouncing, but unfortunately this week I've been on a very limited programming quota due to the ministrations of my better half. So although the code is finally finished, it's being beta tested while I'm away on holiday. If all is well when I get back next week, hopefully I'll try to get it released!
Don't tell anyone else, but you can read about VJAccioPhone and see screenshots here. Please note, and don't ask, there is no download available at the moment.
V
Aside from that a program like this would be very handy, and I'm quite curious and will keep an eye on it myself, I advise everyone to activate the pin code on their simcard, and always call their mobile operator as soon as the phone is stolen so they can block your number to avoid getting high bills as the topicstarter said... You should also be able to get your number back easily by requesting a new sim card and having your mobile number set to that simcard again.
This may seem obvious to some people, but I just wanted to post it anyway since a lot of people are still not aware of these simple ways to protect yourself.
Absolutely true; in England, the police aren't interested in persuing phone theft, but for you own benefit, you must always have your IMEI blocked and the phone reported stolen immediately to prevent you being charged for calls.
VJAccioPhone will be able to report back to you even if the IMEI has been changed or it's being used abroad etc. It's more for protecting your data on the stolen phone then getting the phone back. Frankly, any thief would do better to throw the phone away then persue cracking strong protections. Stolen phones are easy enough to come by! However, at least a nice passer by might be able to get in touch with you!
V
Sounds great! Would it be possible to enable the phone ID (Where you can enter your name and contact details) thought this might be good if it was ever found (or part of the hard reset).
Wauw, this is great stuff Vijay!
If you need a beta-tester on the wizard platform, i would highly recommend myself
This would be excactly what everyone needs 8)
Would it be possible to save the configuration settings? Because my idea would be to include the cab file in my extended_rom, and thus make it install itself even after a hard reset. This would mean that the configurations settings also have to be loaded after the hard reset.
Keep up the great work Vijay
frigit: if you mean enable password screen, yes, should be no problem. however i'm thinking of writing a better custom password screen using some strong encryption, with optional destruction on failure.
leploep: of course, it's designed for extended rom etc. right now protection works as a ta k, for the demo, but i'll be writing protection into an invisible app. Remote control is already complete and works transparently when triggered, so the thief won't even realise what you're doing ie there's no sign of the control smss being received to the thief.
eg you can background call the police from the stolen phone
more when i'm back from holiday next week!
v
This is starting to sound like a killer app - pun intended 8)
I'm in for sure when you get this finished, Vijay!
Already finished for the demo version!
kept me quite busy, developing three intersecting programs, like playing chess! but they all seem to work ok. a friend is testing it hopefully this week then i'll see what i can do for wider release when i get back...
v
Well vijay555 , you can put me on the list of very interested persons on buying this soft.
Cheers mate.
vijay will this work on all the wm5.0 devices??
i.e. I have the pda2k with wm5.0 and have been looking for a prog like this since i got my device, also is it possible to keep this program after hard reset ?? as you know if a hard reset is done the data is gone, but the user now has an expensive device to start playing with
it's not been tested on wm5 at this time, actually because the guy testing has a wm2003 motorola - gulp! but everything i write is normally wm5 & wm2003 now. there is no reason why it's not wm5 compatible but i'll ensure it is before release. i can certainly say, to my pain, the hardReset keyword is very wm5, i activated it by accident in testing.
retaining it after hard reset is only possible, as far as i am aware, by using a custom ext rom or rom.i've not tried it on my magician or universal, but hopefully your device in particular ext rom customisation is possible. at this time it uses registry & normal exe/dll files to run, so no reason it can't be ext rom'med. hopefully this will be confirmed in testing shortly.
if anyone can think of any particularly useful remote keywords to incorporate drop me a line. as it is, the full version will permit remote .exe launching so it can do pretty much anything
v
a lot of us have paid an arm and leg for our devices so having that extra peace of mind,knowing that if your device is nicked your going to make it as hard as poss for the theif to try and profit from your loss.
vijay all the best mate so far your app looks very promising iv got the exec running WM05 so if you need a beta tester let me know LOL
and guys if you report your phone as lost make sure your service provider is also going to blacklist the device!
I work for Vodafones in a call centre in the birmingham, UK,but the amount of customer services that is outsoursed to other non vodafone call centres based here in the UK its unbelievable! the amount of complaints I deal with and customers accounts that I come across where the outsourced twats
will admin bar your sim card but not blacklist the handset!
anyway I'll keep my eyes open for any more theftbashing apps and will post on here.
N2h said:
I work for Vodafones i
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But have an O2 phone.....
Whow V.
Looks very very promising.. !
Great Job man :!:
i'd be happy to check it on my devices :wink:
Cheerz
lol mcwarre
even with our staff accounts we can't get the pdas as they are only available for busniess customers to be honest with you don't know why vodafone is stupid enough not to sell to normal consumers its the biggest network in the uk,
the staff phones we do get we gets 12 months line rental free lol
annnnd from all the universals I think the exec with its black shell looks the most stunning-the white shell devices just look a tad bulkier! lol
Can anyone recommend one?
None!
Don't worry about viruses just yet. Nothing can really get onto your machine without you actually OKing it in the first place.
here
From the ftp, from an JasJar extended rom - Computer Assosiates AV, completely free.
Ward said:
None!
Don't worry about viruses just yet. Nothing can really get onto your machine without you actually OKing it in the first place.
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Click to collapse
That had me on the floor in stiches. This is a microsoft OS. It has Outlook on it, it has wireless abilities, and I am pretty sure that most people leave their bluetooth on most of the time. Also, what about faked 'service' sms messages, these could easily have viruses in them.
Gareth
any viruses out there that i know of only affect symbian phones so i wouldnt worry about them on your phone
coldpenguin said:
Ward said:
None!
Don't worry about viruses just yet. Nothing can really get onto your machine without you actually OKing it in the first place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That had me on the floor in stiches. This is a microsoft OS. It has Outlook on it, it has wireless abilities, and I am pretty sure that most people leave their bluetooth on most of the time. Also, what about faked 'service' sms messages, these could easily have viruses in them.
Gareth
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Show me one person that has been infected with a virus, and also tell me how good that virus can spread itself. Until then a virusscanner is only good for slowing down your pocketpc and nothing else.
coldpenguin said:
Ward said:
None!
Don't worry about viruses just yet. Nothing can really get onto your machine without you actually OKing it in the first place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That had me on the floor in stiches. This is a microsoft OS. It has Outlook on it, it has wireless abilities, and I am pretty sure that most people leave their bluetooth on most of the time. Also, what about faked 'service' sms messages, these could easily have viruses in them.
Gareth
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The platform is far too limited to worry. And if you think an AV will protect you, think again. Perfect AVs are mythical, the reality is that AVs are useless against a real 0-day virus which are disseminated on a very limited basis for compromising specific computers.
Common sense and a knowledge of what is going on > AV protection and the false feeling of security.
Ward said:
And if you think an AV will protect you, think again. Perfect AVs are mythical, the reality is that AVs are useless against a real 0-day virus which are disseminated on a very limited basis for compromising specific computers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you entirely
Virus!!
I would like to inform you guys that one of my friends who has a SE910i send me a .sis file which drained my battery completely I was not able to use the phone till it was charged till 4%. The problem is now the battery keeps getting drained I know the usage has not changed and yes I have deleted the file.
If you want I can send you a program that dial premium numbers during the night...
Hi Guys
Is there a good firewall that we can use with the universal? Do we really need one?
when i browse the web on my Exec i use it over wifi so is that safe, (my home is protected BUT what about the free HOTSPOTS in the city centre <I trust star bucks with my coffee-do I trust them with my internet security?
Would any of you guys use your PDA's webpage to buy something from a website (ebay) or even online banking?
Im not to fused about someone hacking my PDA through my wifi/internet connection, come on the way I look at it, if some one is that good Im sure they have better things to hack then mine! lol
Im more concerned about if I am going to log onto ebay's webpage how secure is my information while its being sent from My PDA browser to there server?
IL appreciate everyone’s thoughts on this!
YES VIJAY that includes you as well,
GUYS KEEP YOUR REPLIES IN RELATION TO THIS THREAD, if you want to talk about your aunty janes cats dogs friends sisters leg, start another thread!)
You don't need one.
Ward said:
You don't need one.
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could you explain why, please?
@ WARD
why dont we need one? because you say so? lol
come on mate you can not give a one sentence reply and walk away from this, do you know how long it has taken me to write the post?
unless you a allsinging alldancing knowit all---------, well even if you are, give a better reply then "you dont need one"
or dont post at all.
you dont need one
You don't need a firewall now, because:
a) No tools for the PPC are really available at the moment, and
b) What exactly are they going to do when they hack in?
c) More importantly, you won't FIND any firewalls for Windows Mobile.
But as to the question of how safe is the information being sent to eBay; well, Pocket IE (Internet Explorer Mobile) is based off IE 5 and 6, with the same security levels. So if you access something with that little lock icon on, you're pretty secure.
If not, you're taking the same risk as normal browsing.
OK guys come on give better answers then "you dont need one"
we are not all mind readers,
:?:
breakit down, whywe dont need one?
how safe is your data when its sent from your device?
try to read my intial thread and reply to the points in there,
I am sure that you are not naive to think we dont need one because our networks tell its its safe or because microsoft does,
How many times has microsoft security been compermised?
Networks- remmber t-mobile? when there servers where being hacked (one good thing that came out of that was pairs hiltons EMAILS! along with the secrect service but with parisss its was more of like many online service providers, T-Mobile.com requires users to answer a "secret question" if they forget their passwords. For Hilton's account, the secret question was "What is your favorite pet's name?" By correctly providing the answer, any internet user could change Hilton's password and freely access her account. and her pet dog name is!!! Chihuahua
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/12/hacker_penetrates_t-mobile/ )
@ snorbaard
thanks dude
N2h, you're being rather rude, so I would have expected a lot more "you don't need one" replies by now just to spite you. I'll answer your question first, and then detail why I believe you're being rather rude.
--
What you're asking about isn't really a firewall. A firewall is used to prevent certain communications either coming into a machine, or going out of it. E.g. a firewall could be placed on outbound port 80 to prevent users from browsing 99% of the web, or a firewall can and should be placed on inbound port 139 to stop some older netbios 'attacks'.
What you're really asking about is whether the communication you do via your PocketPC - over wifi - is 'secure' in that others can't access your information. The answer to that isn't a simple yes/no - it will depend on a few things.
The first thing to make sure as that the access point you're using has WEP (Wireless Encryption Protocol) enabled. The bigger the key, the better. This will mean that 'over the air', your information will be encrypted. Anybody who would 'snoop' that information from the air will need a LOT of data, and a reasonably fast machine, to get the WEP key.
The next thing to make sure is that if the information you're sending is rather sensitive, that you send this information to a site which is using SSL. SSL encrypts your data on your PocketPC itself, all the way through the WiFi router/access point, over the internet, bouncing off of satellites - whatever, until it reaches the destination website where the data is decrypted again. The odds of anybody cracking that signal are *very* slim. It can be done, but it takes ages and ages on multiple computers for even the simplest of SSL encryptions. The 'dumb' way to check whether the site uses SSL is to see if the URL starts with "https". The 'proper' way is to check if the padlock icon is 'locked' in PIE (left of the address bar).
The third thing, if you're using e-mail, is to use an e-mail encryption application, such as PGP. I'm not aware if any exist for PocketPC, but I'm sure they do. These basically encrypt your message in a way that it can still be sent by plain e-mail. The recipient then decrypts the message again on their end. Based on the encryption method used and the length of the message, it would take quantum computers to decrypt it to anything meaningful.
--
For those wondering whether you do indeed need a Firewall - no, you don't. You may wish to look into some basic BlueTooth protection if you leave that on a lot, but other than that there are no real intrusion points for a PocketPC that you'd have to be worried about.
Microsoft may turn the PocketPC into some ueberplatform in the future which would make it more vulnerable, or maybe they learned their lesson and they'll keep things fairly secure - who knows.
--
Now then.. as to why you're being rude...
First.. your post - what's with the bold blue text? Do you think it would get people's attention easier? Just makes it more difficult to read.
Second... you address a specific person, vijay555 - who is a very busy person. But even if he wasn't, it's a bit presumptious of you that 1. he would be reading this, 2. he would be interested in replying at all.
Third... you presume that people would go off-topic, in your original post (in large red type, at that). Why not have a bit more faith in fellow man and see what replies roll in, first? Then if people go off-topic, point it out and ask that they try and address the issue you raised in your post.
Fourth... when somebody does answer your post, even if it is a rather short reply, you tell them to either post a better reply, or not reply at all. Don't be surprised if many people will interpret this in a way that will make them not want to reply to any of your posts at all.
--
Edit: and such is the cost of typing long replies - other people reply before you
zeboxxxxxxxxxxxxxx lol
thatsmade me laugh :lol:
thanks mate
FROM ZEBOX (sorryabout the caps hope i dont hurt anyones feeling)
Now then.. as to why you're being rude...
First.. your post - what's with the bold blue text? Do you think it would get people's attention easier? Just makes it more difficult to read.
dude I LIKE USING COLOURS lol
Second... you address a specific person, vijay555 - who is a very busy person. But even if he wasn't, it's a bit presumptious of you that 1. he
would be reading this, 2. he would be interested in replying at all.
tust me he gets around!
Third... you presume that people would go off-topic, in your original post (in large red type, at that). Why not have a bit more faith in fellow man and see what replies roll in, first? Then if people go off-topic, point it out and ask that they try and address the issue you raised in your post.
Fourth... when somebody does answer your post, even if it is a rather short reply, you tell them to either post a better reply, or not reply at all. Don't be surprised if many people will interpret this in a way that will make them not want to reply to any of your posts at all.
all in one, the amount of threads iv read where the converstion has gone off topic----------- so had to make that clear,
andbeing honest Im having a lugh so i dont want anyone to take it personaly if Imake a checky comment,
and zeboxx this ones just for you
You still don't need a firewall for your Pocket PC.
A firewall in the sense I understand it is a filtering application which brackets network access: rejecting unsolicited packet, applying appication based rules and optionally, performing some filtering on incoming content.
You don't need one, because: there is very little need to restrict application access to the network - malicious apps exist, but its so difficult for them to gain a foothold on your PPC without you knowing about it. So on a clean PPC, a firewall does nothing useful. Dropping unsolitcited packets is nice, but your PPC is mobile - not always connected and therefore of extremely low risk of network intrusion - AFAIK, I've never even heard of a case.
Save your money and CPU and carry on. P.S. PPC AntiViruses are similarly useless, don't listen to PR hype.
@@ ward
Ward thanks for that between you and snorbaard my questionshave been answerd
regarding firewalls and website security!
thanks dude
ward, zeobox Suggested that i was rude to you andmay have hurt your feeling , well my apologies hope we can b friends :lol: lol
cheers bud
RE
Quote
"c) More importantly, you won't FIND any firewalls for Windows Mobile."
AIRSCANNER has one, however, its not currently for WM5 yet
Here:-
http://airscanner.com/downloads/firewall/firewall.html
Keep a close watch on AIRSCANNER for the WM5 version though
RE
ZeBoxx
How to protect your PPC when you're surfing at free hotspots?
I believe that the response should be "You don't need a firewall for your WM5 device - yet."
It's very possible that there are vulnerabilities present in WM5 O/S that simply have not been found yet. There may even be vulnerabilities in WM5 that allow people to reset your device remotely, edit and remove information, etc.
Why would there be vulnerabilities in WM5?
Firstly, its made by Microsoft, and Microsoft has a very bad track record when it comes to this type of thing. Secondly, even if all preventions towards vulnerabilities were taken by Microsoft, it's always possible for one smart hacker to link together something that nobody has ever thought about before. Basically, vulnerabilities are always possible.
If there are vulnerabilities in WM5, why havent I heard about it yet?
Currently the number of devices running WM5 are very small. Theyr also very new, and thus hackers havent really begun to try. It only takes one good enough hacker to do it, though.
Therefore I don't think ruling out firewalls as being irrelevant to WM5 devices is the right way to go about it. Currently, theyr not needed, but who knows? In a months time we might all be scrambling for a firewall as some worm runs riot deleting our files..
It would probably be nice to have a firewall available, anyway. 8)
Just thought I would post to point out that when you go online using GPRS most service providers give you a NAT connection which is in practice the same as a firewall. No incoming connections are allowed, you don't have a public IP address.
This is largly because if you had a public IP all the viruses on the net looking for unsecure Windows machines would flood out your GPRS connection and use up all your credit without you doing anything.
chinnybob said:
Just thought I would post to point out that when you go online using GPRS most service providers give you a NAT connection
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Very true - also, nearly all wireless hotspots will do the same thing, generally decreasing the amount of potential hackers to only other users sharing the same hotspot.
If your device ever gets hacked while using a hotspot, look around for the guy with the laptop trying to look the other way. :twisted:
As I understand it, there's built in facilities for port redirection and monitoring in Windows Mobile already. Whether or not you'd wish to use it for anything is down to a coder.
As everyone is saying, there are two distinct issues I see here:
1. Are your communications secure between PDA and Server?
2. Is your PDA secure to external intrusions?
Question 1 is addressed above. Use appropriate good sense, keep an eye out for SSL and https and always be weary of transmitting anything sensitive over an open channel. Would I use my PDA to buy something over the net? Probably not - I barely trust my PC browser (and I wrote and secured it myself), and although there's little reason to trust PIE less, that's not a high state of confidence. I always half expect to get cheated/identity theft-ed over the net. But use good common sense, reliable traders and be weary of all open connections that you don't control.
Question 2.
Intrusions. Again, as everyone is saying - as of now, there's not an enormous amount of damage that could be done to your PDA even if someone could stomp all over it without your knowledge. Worst case, you need to hard reset, and someone steals all your personal info.
However, there aren't many well known exploits that you need to worry about. But, that probably means that there are exploits known to those who would be interested in you.
However, since you're wifi roaming, it's likely your IP is dynamic. Somebody would have to have an idea of where you are and be particularly interested in finding you on the net to track you down. (although that's easy enough to do if they know your habits. Server logs give a wealth of info for free! I can see many visitors to my website directly from warez sites. If I wanted to backtrace to an ISP, a server or a user, the info is there in front of me)
So, someone can find you on the net. They then need to identify you as using a PDA they can exploit. They have to know exploits. They can then get access to your system. What's the worst that can happen? As everyone says, be weary of carrying very sensitive info on you phone, at least unencrypted. They're small things prone to theft and loss. If you would worry if it was stolen from your hand, don't put it on there, or encrypt it. Doubley so if you're using public wifi.
There are exploits to take advantage of your system. I'm working on stuff that could easily be classified as a trojan, and there is live code, years old, demonstrating the techniques.
Best advice: be careful. Your PDA is naked compared to your PC (which is firewalled, anti virused, and anti-spyed already. right?) Just because no one is interested in looking at your PDA's undies, doesn't mean you should flash them around. Use good sense on all public networks. However, given the hardware limitations of our PDAs, I'm inclined to say, better to leave it unprotected but not at risk (ie not carry highly sensitive info), then have CPU intensive protection that's counterproductive and unlikely to be needed most of the time.
Others would have different priorities. You have to judge what you have at stake.
V
VIJAY thanks for the reply your thoughts are allways much appericated.
when you say you have secured your own browser is it a programme that's available on your site or a 1of thing that you did? someone else advised me that netfront 3.3 (or what ever the latest version is) is more secure then ie any thoughts on that.
thanks
N2h
p.s zeooooooobox guess ur sorry ass was wrong after all.
N2h said:
VIJAY thanks for the reply your thoughts are allways much appericated.
when you say you have secured your own browser is it a programme that's available on your site or a 1of thing that you did? someone else advised me that netfront 3.3 (or what ever the latest version is) is more secure then ie any thoughts on that.
thanks
N2h
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He said quite specifically his PC browser. (i.e. not a browser on his phone)
As someone said earlier, just make sure the little padlock is there. SSL encryption is good enough for most things.
Has anyone else noticed that if they have both Co-Pilot, and the anti-virus application - Both supplied with my Ameo.... and soft reset, the phone will go in some strange loop.
Shows the T-Mobile screen, then the Microsoft Push Email, flashes the today screen for less than a second, back to T-Mobile screen... repeat.
Only way I've seen to get round it is safe mode the unit and uninstall the antivirus.
I know most will say why bother with antivirus... but for a sense of security I would prefer it, does anyone else have this problem? Anyone know of any better anti-virus software? Or a fix for this one?
Cheers
I agree with you that anti-virus software of a good practice. I'm also keen in looking for a good one.
However, I experience what you described when evaluating the spb tips and spb mobile shell. I had to do a safe mode reset too.
eaglesteve said:
I agree with you that anti-virus software of a good practice. I'm also keen in looking for a good one.
However, I experience what you described when evaluating the spb tips and spb mobile shell. I had to do a safe mode reset too.
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Click to collapse
I don't tend to use SPB Tips, want to have Mobile Shell, had that on my Compact III and thought it was great, but heard people on here reporting incompatibility with Ameo regarding speaker issues so going to wait until the next release...
Or have you got it working well?
Regards
Anti-virus for PDA = 100% Marketing
That's what I think. I'm sorry.
Deleted Post
mahjong said:
Anti-virus for PDA = 100% Marketing
That's what I think. I'm sorry.
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If you can pick up a lot of virus' simply by surfin on the internet with the pop up etc, why can you not pick them up when viewing them on an alternate device?
You will soon have no choice but to add anti-virus to your list of essential applications for the phone. Trust me on this.
I have to agree. There was a time the PocketPC was safe, unless you download warez there was no chance of being infected. Even then it was rare.
Its seems that the success of HTC and the windows mobile phones puts them in the windows desktop attack bracket. Now there are so many, and they are all getting data connections its worth attacking them.
Sorry to say it, but while AV on ppc at the moment is dubious, it will soon be required.
I dont know why WM6 doesnt have DEP (data execution protection) etc like vista. They could make it much more secure but havent bothered.
btw, itxda, sounds like your making a threat there! lol. Your not writing a virus are you?
Consideration 1.
A virus need to be programmed for the machine and OS you need want to infect. Can someone tell me a reported case of a virus programmed for Windows Mobile? Please don't report what Symantec or Panda said about it... I mean a real case reported by some user. None.
Consideration 2.
Virus propagation. The way to propagate a virus is into excutable code (this means EXE files) or finding a way to introduce and executable code in a non-executable file, like a .zip file. Then you need to spread that infected code. How in a PDA? Exchanging files? A few exchange of EXE is done in PDA. Thru the network? Cmon... there is a few opportunities for a PDA virus to exist and a few to spread.
Consideration 3.
Don't get confused. Having PocketPC IE doesn't mean that you are on risk of the troyans or virus or even spyware that IE for Windows XP has. First of all because the code to be executed on a PC is not executable in a PPC and second that the target APIs and files in a PC are not in a PPC.
Consideration 4.
Please don't mention Bluetooth virus. The ones existing (if any) are for Symbian and even in Symbian world there are so many incompatible versions of symbian that a given virus has real troubles to spread in the network.
SO...
If I question the fact of someone coding virus for this particular machine and OS, and I question the regular ways of spreading virus, and I question the network and IE risks... What's left? The marketing interest of anti-virus makers.
All this applies to anti-virus programs for Apple Mac, Linux of all kind, symbian phones... and phones in general.
Motorola got a lot of market share in USA... doesn't someone ever in USA got a virus on a Motorola? Never ever. Same for PocketPC. Trust me.
Regards,
mahjong
mahjong said:
Consideration 1.
A virus need to be programmed for the machine and OS you need want to infect. Can someone tell me a reported case of a virus programmed for Windows Mobile? Please don't report what Symantec or Panda said about it... I mean a real case reported by some user. None.
Consideration 2.
Virus propagation. The way to propagate a virus is into excutable code (this means EXE files) or finding a way to introduce and executable code in a non-executable file, like a .zip file. Then you need to spread that infected code. How in a PDA? Exchanging files? A few exchange of EXE is done in PDA. Thru the network? Cmon... there is a few opportunities for a PDA virus to exist and a few to spread.
Consideration 3.
Don't get confused. Having PocketPC IE doesn't mean that you are on risk of the troyans or virus or even spyware that IE for Windows XP has. First of all because the code to be executed on a PC is not executable in a PPC and second that the target APIs and files in a PC are not in a PPC.
Consideration 4.
Please don't mention Bluetooth virus. The ones existing (if any) are for Symbian and even in Symbian world there are so many incompatible versions of symbian that a given virus has real troubles to spread in the network.
SO...
If I question the fact of someone coding virus for this particular machine and OS, and I question the regular ways of spreading virus, and I question the network and IE risks... What's left? The marketing interest of anti-virus makers.
All this applies to anti-virus programs for Apple Mac, Linux of all kind, symbian phones... and phones in general.
Motorola got a lot of market share in USA... doesn't someone ever in USA got a virus on a Motorola? Never ever. Same for PocketPC. Trust me.
Regards,
mahjong
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Thanks for your post, very imformative.
You've converted me,,, for now.
But at the end of the day, what I think sells the software is the fact that it gives the end-user peace of mind.
You can tell people that they don't need something, don't have to do something until you're blue in the face and with all the facts in the world. But there will still be a large number of people that will want it anyway, just for peace of mind...
Also.... can anyone tell me have they had the problems that I had on post #1 :-D ... I've hard reset and installed but still get the problem, without the antivirus installed....
I think it's now looking to be the fault of SPB software, has anyone discovered a fix?
The main purpose of AV software on PPC devices is to scan synched email; if you get email on your Athena, then plug into Outlook, it may (theoretically) pass a virus on.
You know we tend to do quite a bit of testing out new and interesting applications downloaded free. Could'nt a virus be disguised as a free applications and when we run the CAB, confidential info will just simply be extracted, or registry item be manipulated etc?
eaglesteve said:
You know we tend to do quite a bit of testing out new and interesting applications downloaded free. Could'nt a virus be disguised as a free applications and when we run the CAB, confidential info will just simply be extracted, or registry item be manipulated etc?
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Now that's a well thought out statement and question.
As easy as it is to develop applications on the Windows Mobile platform, it's only a matter of time before we start seeing serious viruses and trojans. There are a few out there already but aren't wide spread yet. As on any system, if you open attachments via e-mail or download from the Internet, it's only going to be a matter of time. Time is coming soon. Trust me on this point. Not everyone will be hit but it'll make a mark.
What about writing a virus that can infect your phone, sms your info and GPS coordinates to someone? ;-)
Viruses aren't difficult at all to write. On any platform, Wintel/Linux/Mac/etc.
When one of the scriptkiddies determines that he's been bored all week because he's home for summer vacation and looks over at daddies cell phone....one of them will wonder..."how fast can I propogate a virus throughout cell phones".
Not an if it happens just a when. Let's just be patient and we'll be hearing about the first infections in no time at all.
Heck, someone on this forum could one day write something that infects everyone. You never know.
Hmmm I see what all of you meant but remember the key is "coding a virus for a given machine and OS"... If you don't code the virus that way will not affect the PDA.
Talking about virus I remember the slogan of the New York Mafia: "First we created the need of having protection... them we sell it". (just a joke don't flame... people).
ltxda said:
As easy as it is to develop applications on the Windows Mobile platform, it's only a matter of time before we start seeing serious viruses and trojans. There are a few out there already but aren't wide spread yet. As on any system, if you open attachments via e-mail or download from the Internet, it's only going to be a matter of time. Time is coming soon. Trust me on this point. Not everyone will be hit but it'll make a mark.
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People have been saying "it's coming soon" for years. It has always been easy to program for the Windows Mobile platform, but that hasn't changed the fact that it has now been seven (or five, depending on how you count) years without a virus on Windows Mobile.
Let's hope that people are smart enough to keep it that way. Virus programmers need to get their heads checked...
Moskus said:
People have been saying "it's coming soon" for years. It has always been easy to program for the Windows Mobile platform, but that hasn't changed the fact that it has now been seven (or five, depending on how you count) years without a virus on Windows Mobile.
Let's hope that people are smart enough to keep it that way. Virus programmers need to get their heads checked...
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LOL, agreed.
Kids don't always think logically. We have all done stupid things in our youth. That tradition will never die.
I think this is a useful thread, but not sure it answered the original question, so can I re-state and add?
1. Is the included F-Secure a/v programme the best one for the job?
2. Is it worth-while paying to keep it updated?
Many thanks
Robert
OK. I have never owned or used a Winmo device, so prefer to take advice from actual users, rather than random google hits.
As we are getting so close to actually owning these hot devices (UK), I was just wondering anout web security, what with it being a Microshaft OS, and all.
I would be using the device quite a lot for Internet browsing, etc, so . . . .
Should i install antivirus software, and/or anti spyware software?
If so, what do other Winmo users recommend, Allbeit for other devices, and what would be available for X1 anyway?
Cheers for any help, people.
Stay happy, John
Hi,
Read the following article;
Title: "Mobile security: An ounce of prevention"
Link: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/totalaccess/columns/mobile-security.mspx
Links five antiviruses on that site. I also hear that McAfee also provides a mobile solution - if so, then i'm probably gonna try out that first. But am hoping that Xperia does come with it's own protection software...
Best Regards.
Is there really any point?
They're 500 viruses for ALL mobile OSs maximum...
And most of them arent that harmful at all, it'll be quite hard to get infected and not that hard to get rid of it...
Yeah, don't think the overhead is worth it. I don't leave my Bluetooth on and don't open attachments you don't expect...you should be fine
Cool... since this'll be my first WinMo device, i was wondering if i needed an antivirus or not. I figure not.
i realise this is quite an old post but i'm also a noob and was thinking the same thing. Another forum told me it was essential to buy a virus protector but here it seems not. Now the xperia is released and known...how important is it to get one? Thanks
put an antivirus on your pda si one of the most stupid things you can do
hehe i was thinking as much! some people in other forums are obviously a bit stupid then haha. thanks
Just scan all the files before you transfer them on the desktop if you're worried and only get "over the air" cab files from places you trust..
Attachments can be (and should be Imo) set to download manually in email settings on your device.
am a windows platform owner since 2001 and since then i have never used a security software and never been hit or attacked though i would call my self a heavy internet user since i use internet as a dataplan and through active sync and even back in those days i used to use it as dialup