Nokia Phone Gets Virus Protection

wan-fu writes "After all that talk about bluetooth vulnerabilities and mobile phone virii there will finally be a mobile phone with virus protection. Nokia's 6670 smart phone will be released in October and features software from F-Secure. Perhaps this will raise the eyebrows of some other mobile phone manufacturers to step up and increase their security policies for their phones' operating systems."

Comments

Hmm

[pHatidic]

Am I missing something here?

Why not just make a phone that is secure in the first place and can't get viruses. This has to be the worst marketing ploy ever.

Re:Hmm

[Taladar]

Because people want more and more features.

Marketing people want people to believe they want more features.

Re:Hmm

[Val314]

>Because people want more and more features. Series 60 phones from nokia can run user-installed programs, and we all know what happens when you mix ease of installation (browse to a WAP/web page) and clueless users.

no, Companies want to sell those features, but most People just want to make phone calls.

Re:Hmm

[Tim C]

No, slashdot geeks want to believe that (almost) everyone agrees with them, but in my experience that's not the case. Almost everyone I know who has a feature-filled mobile bought it specifically for one or more of those features. For example, I bought mine because of the integrated camera, bluetooth and ability to run Java apps. A coworker tried for weeks before finally being able to get the phone he wanted, based on its capabilities. He hardly ever sends text messages and doesn't make or recieve many calls, but uses the PDA features and some of the available software all the time.

Maybe the situation really is different in the US, but here in the UK at least, people genuinely want these features.

I just want ...

[Homology]

a mobile telephone that is just that : a telephone. And I most certainly don't need a mobile telephone whose OS is so insecure that it needs an anti-virus program.

Re:I just want ...

[Vicsun]

...then buy a telephone which is just a telephone. Those who want more bells&whistles will get a phone with more bells&whistles.
I never got while people complained about today's phones being too complex; older phones, which are just that - phones, can still be purchased and can be purchased at a price lower than a 'new' phones can.

Re:I just want ...

[EvilNTUser]

Goddamnit, stop modding these posts up. They're about as insightful as saying that a computer should just be a calculator.

Same old problem

[someguy456]

I don't think I know of a single person who keeps their virus definitions up to date (most of my friends use Linux, the rest aren't very computer-literate). Does anyone really think people will sit download virus updates for their frieking cell phone?

Re:Same old problem

[invisik]

I think dial-up internet users have trouble keeping their def's up to date, yes. Broadband users, however, typically leave their computer on all the time, so the automatic updating usually works. Norton Antivirus has gotten a lot smarter in catching the latest defs when it can, not on a set schedule anymore.

Will anyone update their phone? Hopefully it has automatic updates that "just run" when the phone is on and idle. Of course, that has yet to be seen.

Overall, I agree with the others--a phone should be secure enough from the get-go to not need all this overhead.

-m

I'd rather see Nokia patch the OS

[tero]

The article states that there's nothing in the phone that makes it particularly susceptible to viruses and that Nokia knows of no capabilities within any of its devices that a virus might exploit. Fair enough, I suppose, but what happens when one day they release a version which has a bug in it.

The AV software subscription seems to be an monthly based fee type thingy. (Hats off to F-Secure, looks like they're right there on the bleeding edge of squeezing money out of everything).

What I'd really like to see is Nokia (and other manufacturers) taking their responsibility and offering online (or SMS based) free updates to their OS.

I don't want to be forced to subscribing into some monthly fee based bloodsucking anti-virus scheme just to be able to use my phone without having to worry about viruses turning my phone into SMS spamming zombie.

Even Microsoft releases patches every now and then, why not Nokia (and other cell phone manufacturers)?

1. Fear, 2. Anti-fear, 3. Profit

[Slinky Saves the Wor]

Selling virus protection for a phone is a good way to to get money. IF you don't have it, you could be vulnerable to the most devastating, horrible virus which does all kinds of bad things, deletes your contacts, fills your calendar with crap, melts your phone and rots your brains, right? Get the virus protection and you will be safe, right?

And remember to upgrade your protection, otherwise you won't be safe, right? So let's make a deal, 9.99 e for a yearly subscription.

Now you are safe!

Until the next horrible virus... So don't ever forget to pay. OR ELSE!!

Re:Cool...Sorta

[t0shstah]

Except you don't know what you are talking about. This article refers to the Nokia 6670 which runs the Symbian OS which allows 3rd party applications to be written in C++ or Java and installed on the phone. Therefore, viruses are just disguised as the latest piece of neat software and some people will blindly install them, infecting their phone. These mobile viruses simply infect a single host, as yet they cannot replicate between devices and i'm not sure how they could do as even when they are online they don't have anything more than a presence through the gateway. I'm sure i'll be proven wrong in the future.

My phone flashes up a warning when installing any new software, but you are relying on people actually taking some responsibility for their devices... something which the new virus outbreaks every day proves doesn't happen.

Ok, so they could be trying to make the operating system more secure, but your assertion that they could just "analyse packages on the server level" doesn't make any sense because that simply isnt the attack vector.

Re:Cool...Sorta

[mobileTen]

Not so simple to stop viruses at the server or network. The phones can use Bluetooth and data connectors to download programs. The first virus for a phone was spread via Bluetooth. Therefore the Network is not the only place where users can download (infected) programs. And would not be a happy day if the networks went back to limiting where you could download content or software to your phone from? And would not be a happy day if the networks went back to limiting where you could download content or software to your phone from.