McAfee: 2006 - Attack of the Mobile Malware

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.mcafee.com/us/about/press/corporate/2005/20051219_190756.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.mcafee.com/us/about/pres...1219_190756.htm</a><br /><br /></div><i>"More Mobile Attacks - A Serious Cause for Concern: Mobile malware was first sighted in June 2004 when a group of professional virus writers created the first proof-of-concept virus for smartphones demonstrating that malicious code could be created for Symbian operating systems. Soon after, 'Duts' was released the first virus for Pocket PC Systems and the first file infector for smartphones. Since then, several mobile Trojans have appeared, resulting in an alarming growth of mobile malware. McAfee AVERT Labs expects to see a significant rise in the number of global mobile threats in 2006. The use of smartphone technology has played a pivotal role in the threat's transition from multifunction, semi-stationary PCs to palm-sized "wearable" devices. And as a result of the increased connectivity of smartphones, McAfee AVERT Labs expects these threats to make a quick transition to converged devices."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20051222-McAfee.gif" /><br /><br />So they say 2006 will be one of mobile malware's 'deadliest' years on record - but hang on, don't they say that every year? ;) Read <a href="http://www.mcafee.com/us/about/press/corporate/2005/20051219_190756.htm">this report</a> from McAfee and see if you agree with them. Will existing antivirus programs for the Pocket PC finally have a purpose? Are i-mate and CA getting ready to utter those four magical words, <i>"we told you so"</i>? You decide.

[KTamas]

Meh, the same story every year. "[insert current year here] will be a big boom of mobile viruses! Buy McAfee Antivirus for Pocket PC now!"...

[MarcFou]

I just cant imagine anyone investing the time and effort to create a mobile platform virus\worm. So many people back up their devices and we all know how fast and easy it is to do a hard reset or reload a ROM.

System files are in ROM and the only thing thats vulnerable would be the My Documents folder and storage card contents. Alright. The storage card worries me a little ;)

As much as I would like to see some mobile viruses I think I will be disappointed for years to come.

[Ward]

:roll:

Cue the n00bs wanting to know the 'best AV solution'.


Common sense!

[MarcFou]

Common sense!Your right. Common sense is the best defense, hands down.

[dMores]

"2006 will see a shortage in water!
and i'm glad to inform you that you can now purchase my special water for only 29.99 !!!"

:roll:

[inteller]

go get a free mobile AV just to spite them.

[Phillip Dyson]

Common sense!Your right. Common sense is the best defense, hands down.

If by common sense do you mean don't install the A_Virus_4_U.cab or don't run the Your_PDA_As_A_PAPERWEIGHT.exe on your PDA?

I agree, that "common sense" is the best front line of defense, but virus writer's get craftier and dirtier as time goes on.

How many of us power users are constantly trying out new and unknow applications that some one posted about?

I'm not an advocate of the panic tactics by the AV companies and probably wont install any such software until I know someone who was bit, but who knows what vulnerabilities the OS and/or my 3rd party apps have waiting for someone to exploit.

just a thought

[Paragon]

McAfee AVERT Labs expects to see a significant rise in the number of global mobile threats in 2006.


Why? Did they hire more virus writers?....Oh sorry "proof of concept writers" ;)

Scumbags!

[DaleReeck]

Hackers don't bother to write attacks for PDA's for the same reason they attack Windows and not Linux or Mac - installed units. They are not going to bother with a small base of users of PDA's, Linux and Mac. They want fame by hitting as many machines as they can and only Windows desktop is worth their time. If virus protection was free like in the old days I'd install something. But it's just not that big a risk on a PDA to actually pay for it.

[Paragon]

Hackers don't bother to write attacks for PDA's for the same reason they attack Windows and not Linux or Mac - installed units.

Agreed, unless they are paid "Proof of concept writers" :)

[IpaqMan2]

Viruses back in the good old days (any one remember the Commodore 64) were spread around mainly from disk sharing and downloading from BBSes. Today they are widely spread and transmitted on the internet in different ways (email attachments, downloading, and so on).

In each of these cases these are separate self sustaining platforms. My question is how are viruses going to be spread for PDAs?
The PPC OS in most ways is still depended upon a desktop windows OS, to load many programs and to write new ones. Also there currently aren't any real places where PDA users come and hang out to swap programs like there are on PCs (with the exception of those unspoken IRC channels ) ... so if we're not into warez I don't see how viruses are going to get huge and spread in 2006. Maybe someday in the future, but not in 2006.

[shindullin]

Seriously, who created the "proof of concept" virus? If it was a firewall company or a group affiliated with one, that's pretty darned irresponsible, borderline unethical/illegal. And if it's an unaffiliated organization, it's pretty stupid. They're basically saying, "Lets make an outline of a virus that would infect symbian systems and publish it on the internet so less experienced/intelligent virus writers can piggy back over it to make a real virus or trojan horse." Obviously, ANY modern system can be attacked by viruses in some way or another. That's the nature of creating an operating system with self executable files. Why do you need to create and publish a proof of concept except to teach other people how to make one. Since everyone knows that most virus writers out there are "script babies" who wouldn't be able to create viruses out of scratch why would any letigimate organization want to create a "script" for an OS that hasn't suffered from any viruses yet. Boggles the mind. Unless, the firewall companies really are doing it on purpose just to enhance their bottom line.

[shindullin]

IpaqMan2 wrote:
My question is how are viruses going to be spread for PDAs?

The answer is ActiveStink. Especially in it's more recent iteration. It can load executable files and the less control you have over AS, the more control the bad guys can have over you.

[Cybrid]

True. Viruses are spread most commonly by a lack on common sense.

It used to be true that there was no real point to infecting a PDA. WM5 changes that, with persistent storage.....a virus could be there until you intentionally hard reset and god help you if no back up is available.

Also consider that fame is not the only thing that a virus writer may want. Consider what a "keylogger" app would recover from your PDA. What sort of financial data could be in there? At the very least a treasure trove of personal information. Consider Ms. Hilton's sidekick troubles.

You might think that personal data like that may be useless but.....a little social engineering could get you far more.....
"Hi, Bob...My name is Scott from UPS. Your brother Bill wanted me to send this gift over to you but we lost the address. Could you please provide us with the address again?"

Common sense dictates "Plan for war so that you may enjoy peace"