Viruses, Trojans And Worms -- Unplugged?

An Anonymous Coward writes: "This two-part article at Wireless NewsFactor examines the risks of malicious code on wireless platforms and what companies can do to combat potential threats. The gist of it is that wireless viruses/worms/trojans are unlikely to spread unchecked, and it digs pretty deep into why that is the case."

Comments

deCSS virus

[kaldari]

Why doesn't someone write an email virus that includes the alogirithm to decode DVDs? Then everyone would be breaking the law! Yeehaw! Breakin' the law!

This reminds me

[wbav]

Of once, with the ILUVU virus, we had a person re-infect their machine, becuase they downloaded the virus in their e-mail into their palm. When we cleaned the machine for her, she synced up her palm and put the e-mail back. The lady was stupid enough to click on it a second time.

PDA's are even more vulnerable to attacks

[UltraBot2K1]

Point-Counterpoint: Portable wireless viruses such as Palms, PocketPCs, and wireless phones are, in my opinion even more vulnerable to attacks. Think about it for a moment, when was the last time you installed a firewall or virus protection software on your cell phone? Never...that's because it doesn't exist. Portable software is written with the number one priority being size. Flash storage is expensive, and most devices don't have more than 32 MB at most available. Software needs to be extremely compact, and in the process, loses some of it's functionality. The focus is on cramming as many features into as little space as possible, and security is often overlooked.

Also, many portable devices aren't easily programmed, and some cannot be programmed without physically modifying the device. Sure you can download a dev kit for your PDA, but not that many people know how to code for them. Cell phones are even harder to write code for. That means bugfixes and patches are going to be slow or non-existant, leaving them even more vulnerable to security exploits.

Finally, the userbase of most cellular phones and PDA's aren't exactly the most technically saavy people out there. Most users of these devices are ignorant yuppies who could care less about security issues of the WAP protocol vs. Bluetooth. These people don't care/don't know better. All they want to do is talk to their girlfriends/write a grocery list while they're driving home in their BMW or SUV. Most, if not all cell phone users are simply too ignorant to care about security.

I think it was summed up....

[Lxy]

in the very first paragraph. Anything that can be programmed can be programmed to do bad things. In my opinion, wireless opens up a new door. Since all devices must communicate over open air, they're easily sniffed. Just wait until someone figures out how to HIJACK a packet and trick the wireless device into thinking it's contacting a trusted host when in fact it's exchanging packets with a trojaned host. Then you open up a new attack angle. Suddenly you're downloading a spreadsheet to your PDA that's not a spreadsheet, it's an Excel macro virus.

IMHO this article is really arrogant. It's still a well known fact that unplugging your computer is the only true security, connecting it via wireless is opening up the channel even wider.

Virus/worm/trojan

[boinger]

Is that what they're calling WinCE these days?

Finally, they agree with me.

Re:Not a virus programmer, but...

[jeffy124]

with the number of wireless devices using Sun's Java Micro, that's an interesting thought. I know at JavaOne last June the numbers were stagering, but I dont remember what they were specifically. All I remember were CEOs from Nokia and other big name wireless companies telling how they've embraced the j2me for their products. By having the j2me on all these devices, one virus could wipe them all out quickly, much like many windows-related worms.

But, as you say, that requires an 'in.' The J2ME inherits it's security model from the desktop version, hence wireless apps are essentially running in a sandbox that prevent and prohibit certain types of behavior, almost as if there's an anti-virus tool installed on the device.

Re:The main problem is ignorance

[freeweed]

Not to sound like a troll, but shouldn't an 'experienced UNIX programmer' generally have the requisite skills to look up 'i love you virus' in Google, read that it only affects Outlook, and move on? I think a bigger problem is people's unwillingness to RESEARCH a problem themselves.