Virus Scanning On Your Pocket PC?

[Janak Parekh]

AirScanner just released a virus scanner for the Pocket PC: <a href="http://airscanner.com/downloads/av/av.html">AirScanner Mobile AntiVirus Pro</a>, and it got me thinking as to the importance of virus scanning on handhelds. I don't run a virus scanner on my Pocket PC right now, for a number of reasons:<li> I am pretty conservative about what I install on my Pocket PC;<br /><li> The viruses that infect desktops <i>cannot</i> infect a Pocket PC, as they have a different processor and OS;<br /><li> I don't believe a widespread virus exists for the Pocket PC (note the virus scanner, in the screenshot, picked up Eicar, which is a "test" string that's triggered as a virus just to make sure the virus scanner works);<br /><li> I believe the slowdown of a realtime scanner would be substantial, and a non-realtime scanner wouldn't be all that useful. However, I'm curious as to what everyone else thinks. Do you run a virus scanner on your handheld device?

[sponge]

This is just feeding off the fears of Windows users, like the people shying away from Linux, etc, because it doesn't have an anti virus.

[Jacob]

I'm really wondering how a virus would propogate itself then.

If it executed on the PPC then unless it was connected to ActiveSync then it wouldn't be able to reach another PPC to infect it. Okay, it might be bad if you have a WiFi connection.

Otherwise it would just be a program that just trashes your system.

[Gremmie]

My PPC virus IS ActiveSync

[Kirk Stephens]

The only instance in which I have ever heard of a Pocket PC virus was when some developer got fed up with people stealing his software over IRC channels and file sharing programs and decided to do something about it. He put fake programs up on these various services and when users installed it, it hard reset their units. This happened quite a while ago and I forget what program did it...but this obviously is not widespread. I see absolutly no need for an anti virus program at this point in time. It isn't even useful for those who are "cautious" because as of now there seems to be no real threat of virus to Pocket PC users.

[darrylb]

I have PC-Cillin 2002, which has a PocketPC version packaged with it.

I have never installed it (although I just need to click a button), because, the number of viruses to protect myself from is miniscule. I dont get email on my PPC (yet), so I dont expect to have to worry about email propogating viruses - and when I do, I dont think I'll be downloading attachments anyway, and if I do, will the macros work in PocketWord or Excel - NO. What else is there to go wrong? Unless a virus is written in .Net - there is little chance it will execute given the architectural differences already noted, and IF it is written in .Net - it still has to be compiled for smart devices anyway.

Maybe the threat is from Java :wink:

[Gerard]

A little while after I'd installed AVG onto my PC, I was doing some backup type stuff, moving copies of my installers over from an external HDD to the PC, just to have another copy. Grisoft's AV grabbed three virii out of that transfer and locked them down. Seems that 2 CAB files and an EXE had been carrying extra baggage. Then a bit later that week I downloaded something else, through my Casio modem, and for some reason I dumped a copy to the PC via Activestink. AVG to the rescue again, killing the infected file dead in moments without harm.
If I'd had an AV scanner that worked on my PPC, these would never have got that far, as I constantly access that Accurite HDD from my Casio and iPAQ. But of the 4 or 5 PPC AV softwares I've tested, none has ever found a single virus, even when I deliberately save one out of spam and put it any old place and run a scan. Tried that again last week, when I'd just installed this latest PPC AV from AirScanner... nothing. Found no virus, though I intentionally saved two different worms from that morning's particularly plentiful crop of junk mail. It comes in waves, with the richest days getting me 4 or 5 of the little critters, mostly in 'SCR' format.
So as far as I can see, none of these things even works yet. Maybe this one does on a test file it's specifically designed to spot, but on a real-world virus it's a dud.
No real concern here though. I rarely bring stuff over to a PC, and when I do, AVG nails it if it's bad, and I keep that one updated faithfully. As for email, not an issue, as nPOP only downloads what I tell it to download. That's about the most solid AV there is. The first few lines of code in a virus that my email preview shows can't do my PPC any harm.

[Gerard]

That's one kind of business thinking, I suppose. Not terribly productive though, especially if anyone found out and spread the word. It'd be very effective business suicide, actually.
Anyway, BitDefender, Symantec, AirScanner, and whatever else the other ones were called that I tested and dumped, they're all FREE! So there's really no money to be made, right? Perhaps they'd start charging if one ever caught a real, live virus, or if a PPC virus became possible, but for now there seem only to be losses involved in terms of download bandwidth, and from the looks of this survey, not a lot of that, either.

[dma1965]

My PPC virus IS ActiveSync

DITTO!!!!

[theon]

My PPC virus IS ActiveSync

Gremmie's got that right... Cheers! :mrgreen:

[dannyoneill]

realtime scanning, waste of my cpu, i do use PC Cillin though for on demand.

I manage all the AV for our company and I often get the directors saying "Why do we need antivirus, ive never had a virus?"

Well, hmm, good point, ever thought about WHY you never have a virus?

Some people i know say the same, "never had one, dont need protection", then when I ran a scan for virus;s to prove my point then often have 5 or more differnt infections.

Its always good to be safe

[Paragon]

Scam...absolute, 100% scam. If someday a virus should show up on a PPC then maybe. But, since there has NEVER been one, I'll spend my money on useful things, like renting music from Microsft. :) If I got a virus I would simply do a hard reset, and restore from an unaffected backup.

I do agree with Gerards observations though. We do need to be careful not to infect our desktops with viruses we have simply passed along. For system administrators this must be a very real fear that can be difficult to manage.

Dave

[dannyoneill]

Money, what are you going on about man.

PC Cillin is a free on demand scanner.

There are PPC virus's. quite a few actually. most of them are just dodgey software and can be avoided by a little savvy but they do exist.

[Paragon]

Money, what are you going on about man.

PC Cillin is a free on demand scanner.

There are PPC virus's. quite a few actually. most of them are just dodgey software and can be avoided by a little savvy but they do exist.

The money comment wasn't directed at this software as much as it was at the whole concept, and the several others out there that are trying to make a buck of it.

If all I had to do was install this piece if software to protect me from "dodgey" software I'd jump right on it. Somehow I don't think it works quite that way. :)

Dave

[Jacob]

There are PPC virus's. quite a few actually. most of them are just dodgey software and can be avoided by a little savvy but they do exist.

There are?

Isn't the definition of a virus is that it replicates itself? - it's not a virus if it just damages your PPC - then it's just bad software, or just damaging software.

[sponge]

Or a trojan.

[achille]

[TechMage]

Lol, Virus Scanners for Pocket PC? How can you scan for virii on a Pocket PC, if none exist? Lol.

[Gremmie]

A virus could also be defined as: A program designed to create problems, give headaches and that has been distributed on many many computers.

In that case my ActiveSync would be a virus :D

Don't forget about mysterious data loss

[Jacob]

A virus could also be defined as: A program designed to create problems, give headaches and that has been distributed on many many computers.

In that case my ActiveSync would be a virus :D

I'm sure Microsoft developers were thinking "BWAH hAA hA HA HAAA!! ALl these people will be suffering because of MEEE!!! :twisted: :twisted: " :roll:

[WillyG]

I installed AirScanner just for fun/testing (got the Eicar to test with).
Well AirScanner found it no matter where i moved it. But it also found somthing called "Connection Manager". I dont know what this is, but AirScanner told me it could not be cleaned. The program said Connection Manager was widespread, not very dangerous, but extremely annoying. So how do i proceed from here, how do i get rid of this junk?










:wink:

[Gerard]

I heard the other day that there is a patch for the Connection Manager worm due out this June, or October, something like that. Microsoft is calling it 'PPC 2003' and it is supposed to fix a few holes elsewhere at the same time. I wonder what we'll have to pay for that...

[dma1965]

I have had ActiveSync toast my data so many times now, I keep a constant running backup of my data using 2 programs and backup to 3 locations and then to tape. I have never had any virii cause more damage to data as ActiveSync has, and lets not forget the first version of Money for the Pocket PC. Wow, was that ever a nightmare. Frankly, I do not see the need for the fear on the PPC platform. Reloading the OS is just a Hard Reset away, and I have reloaded mine so many times that it takes me less than an hour to get up and running again. If you run Pocket Backup, it takes less than 15 minutes to do a restore, and since I keep 5 days of backups on my 1gig CF card, I can pick the day I want. Thank God for Pocket Backup. :mrgreen: