The security challenges in the mobile environment are similar to the problems we have encountered in the PC world. First mobile phone viruses have already been seen. In the future, it is likely that we will also see new attacks, such as trojan horses in games, screensavers and other applications resulting in false billing, unwanted disclosure of stored information, and deleted or stolen user data.
Phone users should be careful when installing new software and downloading applications over the Internet. Extra caution should be used when the software comes from an unknown source.
Open platforms are becoming popular in smartphones, for example the Symbian operating system is used in more than 20 million mobile phones at the moment. The best way to protect a smartphone against harmful content is to install automated antivirus software to the phone. This is also the only way to get full protection against viruses that try to enter the phone for example over Bluetooth or infrared connections.
Mobile operators offer virus protection as a service
Also mobile operators have taken actions for protecting their clients against mobile threats. Elisa Corporation, a leading Finnish telco as the first mobile operator in the world, starts offering wireless antivirus services to its smartphone customers. The service is the first commercial mobile antivirus service offered through a mobile operator. Elisa smartphone users can download the antivirus client over the air directly to the phone and will have a free one-month test period of the antivirus update service. After the trial period, the users can purchase continuation to the service directly from the phone. The service is charged in the subscribers invoice.
The F-Secure Mobile Anti-Virus service is available to Elisa users through Elisa WAP services. In the beginning, the service is offered to the users of Nokia 3660, 6600, 7610 and 6670 smartphones. Later, the service will be expanded to support also other smartphones as well as new distribution and billing models.
Mobile phone vendors take active approach
Users of mobile devices should not be troubled with finding the right security solutions. Mobile phone vendors are in a good position to offer access to antivirus services for phone users.
F-Secure Mobile Anti-Virus will be available for the users of the Nokia 6670 smartphone and the Nokia 7710 widescreen multimedia smartphone.
Nokia 6670 users will have a free one-month test period of the F-Secure Mobile Anti-Virus service. The software can be downloaded from the F-Secure website, and customers will find a link to the download site via Nokia.com product pages. After the free trial period, it is possible to purchase continuation to the antivirus update service directly from the mobile phone or through F-Secure eStore.
For the new multimedia smartphone 7710, the F-Secure software with a free one-month test period will be available on a memory card in the sales package early 2005.
F-Secure Mobile Anti-Virus is the most comprehensive solution available for protecting smartphones against harmful content, from undesired messages to malfunctioning applications. It provides real-time, on-device protection and automatic over-the-air antivirus updates through a patented SMS update mechanism and HTTPS connections.
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