A Proof-of-Concept Virus for iPods Running Linux

An anonymous reader writes "Although antivirus companies will probably create a hype saying that iPods are prone to infections, a virus called 'Podloso' is a newly found virus that is just a proof of concept code that can infect iPods running Linux. Once launched, the virus scans the device's hard disk and infects all executable .elf format files. Any attempt to launch these files will cause the virus to display a message on the screen which says, 'You are infected with Oslo the first iPodLinux Virus.'"

Comments

Depends on antivirus company

[Ilgaz]

""Although antivirus companies will probably create a hype saying that iPods are prone to infections"

Well, (Eugene) Kaspersky says at viruslist.com blog (http://www.viruslist.com/en/weblog?weblogid=20818 7356):

"Overall, I don't think iViruses will cause serious problems in the future. The iPod world is very different from the PC and smartphone world. Users aren't constantly installing new software and downloading a wide range of files, so that cuts down on the possible infection vectors. And what's there to steal from an iPod? Multimedia files, and that's about all.

So - it was an interesting little puzzle, this proof of concept, but nothing more."

Non-story

[nevali]

This is possibly the biggest waste of a story Slashdot's had in a while.

Not only does it only 'infect' iPods running Linux, but it's not even able to replicate. To call it a virus is stretching the truth, to say the least; it's just a program that trashes your binaries.

Re:...another "social engineering" virus

[Tim C]

The vast majority of viruses require user intervention to run and infect a machine, and aren't considered news (or at least, not individually). I assume that this one is because it's the first for this particular platform.

It's not .elf it's *ELF*

[cculianu]

The file format is called ELF, the executable and linking format. Not .elf. It isn't a file extension. This isn't windows. Bah.

Re:...another "social engineering" virus

[H3g3m0n]

Technically these are considered worms, as they actively self propagate, they seek out vulnerabilities in other systems and infect them. Viruses on the other hand attach to similar files and require the user to transfer the file and execute it on another system having a passive attack vector. I'm not sure i would count the iPod Linux virus as a virus as it would have to be able to infect other iPods somehow, if it can't infect other iPods then its really just malicious code. Granted you can take the binary files from one iPod and put it on another but thats not likely to happen meaning it has basically no self propagation.