eTrust Antivirus for i-mate Pocket PCs

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?ContentId=4601' target='_blank'>http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.a...?ContentId=4601</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Computer Associates International Inc. has signed an agreement with i-mate to provide protection to their converged mobile devices against virus attacks. Under the agreement, all next generation i-mate Pocket PC Phone Edition and Smartphones will come pre-installed with CA's eTrust Antivirus software. Existing i-mate device users will have a facility to download the software from i-mate's website at a subsidized price."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20050607-imate.jpg" /><br /><br />Hmm... I'm all <b>for</b> mobile antivirus protection, but do any of you think this agreement is a little premature? I still believe it's a little early to be worrying about Windows Mobile-based viruses, don't you? :?

[surur]

I've looked into this for other reasons, but it seems federal standards require handheld devices to have antivirus software installed to be used. Firewall also required.

What are the minimum requirements for PDAs used within the FHWA environment or used to store FHWA data?

The minimum requirements for PDAs used within the FHWA environment or used to store FHWA data are as follows:
(1) PDAs must be approved for use by the FHWA Information Systems Security Officer (ISSO) in HAIM-40.

(2) Anti-virus software must be installed on the PDAs.

(3) PDAs must require a power-on password.

(4) All PDAs must be physically labeled to show that they are FHWA property, and the label must include the appropriate contact information. The user or FHWA Information Technology (IT) representative can provide and apply the label to the PDA. The contact information should include a contact name or office and a contact telephone number, labeled such as the following:

Agency: Federal Highway Administration
Office: xxxx
Phone: xxx-xx-xxxx

(5) Each PDA must have an FHWA bar code attached. The bar code will be provided by the FHWA property management staff at the FHWA site. All PDAs are considered to be sensitive FHWA property items and must be bar coded regardless of their purchase cost.

(6) PDAs must be configured with screen-locking timeouts. After a few minutes of inactivity a password must be required to reactivate the PDA.

(7) Unless otherwise approved by the FHWA ISSO, any PDA wireless capabilities such as Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) and beaming (infrared) or other infrared capabilities must be disabled during use.

( All PDA users must read and sign a PDA Terms and Conditions of Use Agreement, which will be provided by HAIM-40 upon security approval. The user signature on this document will constitute the user's agreement to abide by these terms and conditions.

Additional controls may also be required based on the types of data to be stored on the PDA or the methods in which the PDA will be used to access data or systems. These include, but are not limited to, the following:
(1) PDAs must be equipped with encryption software to encrypt sensitive data.

(2) PDAs must be configured with firewall software that blocks all incoming connection attempts.

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/legsregs/directives/orders/137012.htm

So if you want to sell to the feds you need these things, even if unnecessary. There's a lot of money in them there taxes ;)

Surur

[karen]

Hmm... I'm all for mobile antivirus protection, but do any of you think this agreement is a little premature? I still believe it's a little early to be worrying about Windows Mobile-based viruses, don't you? :?[/quote]

First, that really does sound like a dare....

Second, there are plenty of legislative and policy reasons to have AV software on devices that hold or update corporate data.

Third, what do you want vendors to do? Wait until there's some Melissa equivalent virus/worm spread across millions of devices before they start work on solutions?

Now, if you want to comment on the feasibility of a brand new AV product from a new vendor coming to market, then we can talk about whether or not someone can sustain a business yet. However, this is about CA, which at somepoint was the 4th largest software vendor in the world. With all their acquisitions, they have to be fairly high up in the list. CA is most likely building versions of Etrust to cover all sorts of devices so that they can claim coverage on an enterprise's data assets. Let's just say that the home consumer is not their target audience.

Karen

[Darius Wey]

Let's just say that the home consumer is not their target audience.

Well, I was looking at this from a point of view that not all of i-mate's consumers are corporate users. A fair share of them are home users (geeks included) and small business users. How much ROM will this take up, and secondly, how much of a resource hog will it be? Perhaps if i-mate wanted to provide a solution for corporate users, they could set up a licensing deal specifically for them, rather than have it affect all i-mate devices. I'm guessing that because all upcoming i-mate devices will have this new antivirus software, that the general price of i-mate devices will rise a little (an assumption only). If that's the case, will the standard consumer market appreciate that?

There are so many factors about this that make it good from one perspective, but questionable from another. If it's a federal standard however, then I suppose this is all a moot point. ;)

[Gibby]

"Computer Associates International Inc. has signed an agreement with i-mate to provide protection to their converged mobile devices against virus attacks. Under the agreement, all next generation i-mate Pocket PC Phone Edition and Smartphones will come pre-installed with CA's eTrust Antivirus software. Existing i-mate device users will have a facility to download the software from i-mate's website at a subsidized price."

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20050607-imate.jpg

Hmm... I'm all for mobile antivirus protection, but do any of you think this agreement is a little premature? I still believe it's a little early to be worrying about Windows Mobile-based viruses, don't you? :?

The statement comes to mind, "It's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it!" The same thing applies to any type of insurance that you have. Peace of mind more than anything. :)
Can you really say that this is a bad thing? Back in the 80's nobody thought of antivirus software on their PC's, now we are all scrambling to ensure we have enough security on our machines.

[PDANEWBIE]

And we all know that the feds always have the publics best interest whenever they develop rules. I agree with Darius why make it a built in solution. I sure hope this isn't in ROM and is only on the suppliment CD or something... I already get mad at some of the unneeded items currently in my ROM that I wish I could shave off.

[Silver5]

I think that this is a GREAT idea. Not because it is necessary right now, as there are few, if any, viruses aimed at the PPC OS, but because if such virus protection is not included I doubt many people will be willing to buy it seperately. That's part of why viruses spread so quickly and easily on desktop PCs...people do not want to buy a $2000 computer only to be squeezed for another $50 or more for software that really should be included.

If this weren't to become available as an included program, I'd bet that as soon as a virus is released most of the bright people who think this is a silly idea would be very vocal in blaming the various companies involved for not providing protection.

[Darius Wey]

Can you really say that this is a bad thing? Back in the 80's nobody thought of antivirus software on their PC's, now we are all scrambling to ensure we have enough security on our machines.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm not necessarily saying this is a bad thing, but rather there are different ways to approach this. Clearly this is designed for the corporate user, and having it in ROM isn't the only solution. As PDANEWBIE has stated, it can be a little annoying when you have something in ROM that you cannot get rid of, and I can think of many home users falling under this category.

If the mobile virus threat was profound at the moment, I'd understand it, but the thing is, it's not. All I'm saying is that there's many ways to approach this, and signing an agreement to have it pre-installed on every i-mate device is a huge move, yet a little unnecessary at this stage. A licensing deal for corporate users seems more fitting.

[Chris Spera]

Darius,

I happen to agree with you. I **DO** think its a bit early. There aren't any real viruses yet, and until I see some reports of something in the wild, I' won't be recommending this to anyone. I have enough trouble running my BlueTooth and WiFi drivers NOW without something else running at startup...

[beq]

One thing, even if bundled in ROM, I would think an AV product would let you disable its realtime access scanning component (if you don't want the performance hit)?

Anyways, I use CA's eTrust AV bundle for a desktop PC too, if only because it's offered free by Road Runner (including bundled OEM ZoneAlarm, PestPatrol, antispam, etc)... It's definitely a software package for home consumers, but I'm not sure how CA's AV stacks up to Symantec, McAfee, etc...

[Jason Lee]

Don't worry! It will NOT be in ROM. Nothing imate ever bundles is in ROM. It will be in the ext ROM and installed on first boot, just like their bunlded skype. :) So you should be able to uninstall it. If not it is very easy to remove it from the ext ROM and hard reset. problem solved. :)

I know it makes for faster rom updates if all the customization is installed to ram but what a waste. My sx66 installed the mms software, ia photo caller id, the cingular tweaks, and serveral other things to RAM the first time i turned it on! 8O What a waste of space. Why can't that basic stuff be in ROM??
I almost wish we could choose at initial boot which of the things in the ext rom we wanted to install instead of having to make your own ext rom after the fact. oh well.

[crash]

i've actually been using this software for quite a while. (since sept 2003) i signed up after reading about a free license to try it. it does not run in memory to detect viruses. it has to be run to scan for them. i've only seen it show a virus twice. once was a bug (detected wmplayer html page as a virus, i reported it and it was fixed in the next update) and one was a virus linked by a guy spam posting a link on pdaphonehome. i realized his post was a setup so i ran the scanner right after hitting his page. the virus was detected and removed. it seems to work so i'll keep it loaded. ca seems to come out with regular updates too.