RE: Symbian S60/Mobile Security: Malware and Spyware attacks in the wild?

["Pranav Lal" <pranav.lal () gmail com>]

Murda,
<snip This may be anecdotal, but I don't know anyone who has ever had a
virus on a
symbian based (or any other) phone. Unlike people who use PC's.
PL] a colleague of mine had left his Bluetooth in able on his mobile phone.
At some point, he received a Bluetooth message from an infected device. He
unconsciously answered yes. Needless to say, his phone was infected. I am
not sure if a phone antivirus would have helped. With mobile phones, my own
belief is that as long as you are careful about what to install and insure
that you have connectivity options disabled unless you are using them, you
don't really need any other security application.

Pranav
-----Original Message-----
From: listbounce () securityfocus com [mailto:listbounce () securityfocus com] On
Behalf Of Murda Mcloud
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 3:57 AM
To: 'Sven Aluoor'; security-basics () securityfocus com
Subject: RE: Symbian S60/Mobile Security: Malware and Spyware attacks in the
wild?

Here's good place to start:

http://3lib.ukonline.co.uk/viruses.htm

I think that pirated software is a most risky proposition-as with anything
where the user initiates installation.

Personally, I think there is a greater risk of having your phone stolen and
your data compromised than anything else.

This may be anecdotal, but I don't know anyone who has ever had a virus on a
symbian based (or any other) phone. Unlike people who use PC's.


> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: listbounce () securityfocus com [mailto:listbounce () securityfocus com]
> > On Behalf Of Sven Aluoor
> > Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 7:27 AM
> > To: security-basics () securityfocus com
> > Subject: Symbian S60/Mobile Security: Malware and Spyware attacks in the
> > wild?
> >
> > Hi folks
> >
> > I have a few questions regarding Symbian Security (and general mobile
> > security):
> >
> > - Why there are virus scanners for Symbian? Are they
> > useful? What countermeasures they implement? Or they make only the
> > vendors rich?
> >
> > - What are common attacks on Symbian based devices?
> >
> > - How to harden a Symbian mobile phone?
> >
> > - Are there malware and spyware in the wild?
> >
> > - When I would download pirated software for Symbian, what is the risk?
> >
> > kind regards
> > Sven