With DEFCON and Black Hat going on, a lot of security issues are being made public. This year, cellphones have been a larger target than before. More and more people are carrying complex smartphones that have more ways to go wrong. Even worse, since phones are tied to a billed account, it is possible for malicious software to charge phones discreetly. However, Flexilis promises to keep your phone safe. It’s a free mobile anti-virus that works on most smartphones and PDAs with more clients in the works. It also provides easy backup and recovery options, as well as the ability to wipe the phone if it’s lost. The phone makers really need to fix the probelms, but in the meantime Flexilis can provide a quick response.
[via WSJ Digits]
Windows Mobile has IE as its default browser. I bet that is getting the most attacks. This is not the vendors’ faults, this is Microsoft AS USUAL.
Who can you trust? Microsoft makes an insecure system regardless of platform, but there’s a huge incentive for them to keep doing so: Norton/Symantec can keep selling their terrible Antivirus software to unsuspecting customers.
If Windows went UNIX like OS X, attacks would be minimal and Antivirus software would be virtually unnecessary. With Apple keeping a tight control on the apps that run on the iPhone (not the jail-broken ones obviously), they are basically unable to get viruses of any sort. And even so, how many OS X viruses have there been?
bloat bloat bloat
is it just me or does that description read almost exactly like a press release????
oh god,i hope this isn’t the begining of hackaday posting “articles” paid and produced by company shills :(
RE: Tatsh
Most newer smartphones aren’t using PIE (pocket internet explorer) as the default, but rather they are using opera. PIE is still there but not set to default. I highly doubt anyone has anything to worry about when it comes to cell phone viruses. Maybe in a year or 2.
Anti viral software has been available for your WM device for sometime now, so this is nothing new. It was bloatware then and is bloatware now.
tatsh; “most people” use Windows, thus Windows is a bigger target. Nothing is 100% secure, this is proven daily.
GSM phones should just brick like TDMA/CDMA phones if reported stolen, then no one will bother to steal them.
@ tatsh, it doesn’t matter what os or what app, it matters on terms of popularity, wm is one of the most popular phone os’s and pie is included with it. Let’s say that the most popular phone was the g1 with opera. Then it would be the new target for viruses/malware…
@ dumbpuppy, I agree. :(
Windows is just the target for attacks because they have had the same file formats since mid 90’s and the code can execute on even the most up to date systems. Viruses written ten years ago can still fack a computer if it is not protected.
Go Android ! … ?
tatsh: windows systems are hit the hardest because of numbers, not security plain and simple. people are not going to setup attacks for something that carries less than 10% of the market out there. it is a numbers game in the end. if 95% of the world was running NeXT today you would be saying the exact same thing about it.
anyway nothing is 100% secure unless it is 100% destroyed
and the age of ROM operating systems embedded into flash memory begins.
antivirus programs such as F secure have been around for years on symbian operating systems. this is nothing new.
plus most computer antivurus programs can pick up and more importantly remove viruses on mobiles. just link it up by USB and scan as normal.
oh and @android, the security flaw exposed at blackhat affected android, WinMo and iphone.
New app at the appstore; malwarebytes’ mobile.
Salam Cinta Damai & Kasih Sayang…
Is hack-a-day now sponsored by “Pay per post”?
Foretime hackers hacked the biggest torrent portal Linkomanija.net Lithuania believed that the theft was 40.000 login with pasvordais
Broken linkomanija the user database can be downloaded from these links http://hotfile.com/dl/9585610/39ecb4a/linkomanija_nulauzta.rar.html all passwords on the list is uzkuoduoti so if kasnors atkuoduos all the information from this list may make use of your registration. seme, see if its better Nika Change your password.
wheres the new hacks. this has been #1 for 3 days!
@googfan#1: I’d buy it. If i had an iphone.
@berlink: What in the name of all that is glorious and holy are you saying? Seriously, are you brain damaged? and wtf happened to moderated comments?
@googfan#2: idk. i guess the went from one or two posts a weekend to none.
not to start the whore “this isn’t a hack” thing,but seriously,THIS?
this is like a product press release,and it’s not even vaguely a hack,it’s an anti virus pgm….do we get posts when a new version of office comes out now also???
i dunno,seems like not so good stuff goin on here…
LOL WHORE
i meant “whole” of course :P
this is a notice in response to a hack. therefore it is hack related.
Anti Virus has existed for smartphones for years. It is nothing new and untill there are a large number of viri for smartphones there will still be no need for them. many mobile software sites have hundreds of them most of which have been in existance for over a year. There is no way for a Virus to survive a hard reset, at least currently, and since its easy to backup your stuff and do a hard reset I see no reason for this kind of software to exist. Programs like this are waist of any smartphones already limited space and this post on hackaday was a waist of my bandwidth.
quit bitchin
did hackaday miss day? :O
new rule, corporate products are never hacks, mmkay?
@Hiroe
hackaday is a tec website … it is no longer strictly hacks … im glad this showed up for my BB storm
@berlink: FYI, translating software will fail badly if the original text is by some illiterate bastard. It always pays off to clean up the original before feeding it to google :p
RE:Tatsh
I have heard from lot’s of people that apple products are not easily targeted from viruses they have very good security system , i have heard from some people that microsoft has partnership with antivirus software companies.
Gah, now I need to get a tinfoil hat for my phone.
@ james burns
apple is more secure simpally becasue to add an app you need to go threw the app store and they find viruses … and Microsoft is trying there hardiest to stop viruses there is no conspiracy … blackberry devices are prone to them becasue of there simple java PL and of all it can do … as long as ur not an idiot you are safe from cellular viruses
No new hack on a day because the had staff got pownd on theyr Mobile?
@biozz
statistical analysis reveals that most people are in fact idiots.
There isn’t currently any known viruses for most mobile phones.. So if the software doesn’t have anything known to search for how will it know what to find?
Here is the problem. The WM6 platform (WM6.5 the latest) is the best platform out there for usability and business. I can do a full hard push sync with the office’s exchange server without paying for the crackberry taxes and additional fees.
Is it perfect? not a chance. but it’s better for business use than the iphone and any of the symbian phones I have
You guys are missing the best part!
The software kills any non 80/443 traffic, or anything not standard html.
It killed Orb and RSSHub on my kaiser. That’s pretty much all I use my phone for.
What do people here think about Microsoft’s new antivirus offering? I found a good resource with the 2009 antivirus rankings here, but it doesn’t include Microsoft’s offering.
Chris
ESET Nod 32