There's nothing special about Windows Mobile, Palm, or Symbian devices that make them virus-resistant. It's just that for the most part malicious hackers haven't tried to target mobile devices because there hasn't been that much information worth stealing. But as people put more and more valuable data on their cellphones and PDAs, those devices are becoming more attractive targets. And so we probably shouldn't be surprised that McAfee released an alert this week that a virus targeting the Windows Mobile operating system is making the rounds. The WinCE/InfoJack trojan has been packaged with several Windows Mobile programs, including a version of Google Maps, and a game collection.
McAfee has traced the program back to a single web site, whose maintainer says it was designed to track what type of devices people are using to run applications. But it has a ton of properties of a virus. For example, if it's on a memory card it will automatically install itself on a Windows Mobile device when that memory card is inserted. It backs itself up to protect itself from deletion. It installs itself as an autorun program, and allows unsigned applications to install without asking for permission first.
While there are a handful of anti-virus applications for Windows Mobile out there, something tells us we're about to see a lot more of them soon.
[via TechBlog]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-27-2008 @ 1:29PM
ozzzy said...
Brad, would you mind posting the web site mentioned in the article? I'd like to avoid that site at all costs.
Reply
2-27-2008 @ 1:29PM
ozzzy said...
Nevermind, found this in the original article.
"Fortunately the trojan’s website is no longer reachable, due in part to an investigation by local law enforcement."
Plus it sounds like this was a Chinese website that the majority of readers would never have visited. Though it would have been nice to have this information in the post.
2-28-2008 @ 6:13AM
mario said...
it doesnt surprise
Reply
2-28-2008 @ 6:14AM
michael said...
It doesn't surprise what? That WinMo, Palm, Symbian and other mobile devices aren't virus-resistant? Not really.
It's kind of inevitable, since a lot of data is being migrated to mobile devices for on the go.