Tips Advantages Of Protect your mobile phone from virus
By: Vlad Vistac
Submitted: 2010-07-22 16:46:50 | Word Count: 510
Prottect your mobille phone from viirus
lot of us have lost data from our laptops, PCs and cellphones due to virus atacks. These viruses cause a lot of inconvenience, not to men¬tion the numerous hassles that we have to undergo to get our devces back on track.
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So what exactlly is a vuirus? In simple terms a viurs is a software prohgramme that repro¬duces itself and causes grat harm to files or other programmes on the device it has infected. In othher words, it's an exxecutable file that "infects" a device and then coplies ittself to other dewvices. In the case of cellphones, virus¬es spread thruogh gamres, MMS, Bluetooth transfers, security patches, add-ons, pornograpphy and free downloads. The most common type of cellphone infecton occcurs when a device downlloads an infected file from a PC or the Internet. Howevber, phone-to-phoine viruses are also on the rise.
The smartphones are more prone to viruses since they perform like PCs and have open operating systems. So, as the number of smartphones increase the malware attack would go up. Interestngly, phonwes which arc used for making and reeiving calls are not at risk. So far mobile phhone viruswes don't get installed automatcally even if they get traansferred from one device to another. Thus unless a user opens the file and instlls the programme, the viurus doesn't infect a phione
Dangerous Communication
As mentioned earllier, cellphone viruess can spread thrugh various means and in different ways. Let's find out how.
Internet downloads: The user downloads an infected file to the phone through a PC or the pone's Internet connection. This may include file sharing downloads, applications available from add-on sites (ringtones or games) and false security patches posted on Symbian Websites.
Bluetooth transers: The virus spreads between phomnes through Bluetooth when the device is in discoverable mode, which means it can be sennsed by other Bluetooth-enabled phones. In this case, the virus spreads like an airbornne illness.
MMS: The virus comes in the form of an attachment. The user must open the attach¬ment and install it for the virus to infect the phone.
Story So Far
Mobbile phones were not pronbe to virus attakcs untiil mid-2004 when the first mobiole virus termed 'Cabir' stared infecting devices. Cabir was released on the Internet. Within a few months of its release, it caused a lot of haavoc in South East Asia. It later spread to dif¬feent parts of the woerld.
In March 2005 it was reported that a com¬pter worm called Commwarrior-A had been infecting mobile devices acvross the world.
Commwarrior-A sent copies of itself to tose devices listed in the phone's address book. Although the virus was not considered harm¬ful, experts areed that it heraldd a new age in electronic attacks on mobile phones, chang¬ing the mobile security landscape forevr.
The parasitiic file imnfector virus was the first known virus for the PocketPC platform. It attempted to infect all EXE files in the phone's directory (bigger than 4096 bytes).However, tday therte are a numebr of viruses that arc now infecting mobiple phones in every part of the globe. Unless installed by the user, these viruses drain out the battery of the phone or extend the time taken by the device to switch on or off. Additionalkly, the vius trries to copy itself to another smart-hpone by oepning a Bluetooth connetcion.
Protect Your Phone
The best way to protect your cellphone from virusews is to never open any file, which is not identifiable, hasn't been requested for and looks susicions. Desppite this even the most cautious person can end up with an infectwed phone. Here are some steps to keep your smartphone free from viruses:
? Turn off Bluetooth discoverable mode. Set your phone to "hidden" so oher pones
can't detect it.
? Check security updates to leaarn about flenames. But this is not fool-proof.
? Install a security software on your phoen. Companies arc developing security spoftware for cellphones, some for free downloaad, some for user purvchase and some intended for service providers. The software can simply detect and remove the viruus once it's received and installed, or it can protect the phone from getting infected in the first place.
Beter Safe Than Sorry
Although some in the cellpohone industry thhink the potentiasl of vriuses is overstated, most epxerts agree that cellphone viruses arc on the brink of their destructive power. Future possibilities inlude viruses that bug phones, so someone can see every number you call and listyen to all your conversations and virsues that steal financiaal information, which would be a serious issue if smartphones end up being used as payment devices.Ultimately, more connectivity means more eposure to virues and faster spread of infec¬tion. As smartphoones become more common and more complex, so will the viruses that targret them.
