As unfortunate as it is that the world needs such products, the mobile antivirus industry is actually pretty well matured at this point with offerings from big players like McAfee and Kapersky already several versions deep. Both McAfee and Symantec have chosen this week to announce their latest mobile goods; in McAfee's case, it's really just a rehashing of the company's existing VirusScan Mobile software, which is now available to purchasers of its Triple Play offer for comprehensive security from PC to phone and offers protection for Windows Mobile 5 and 6 devices. Symantec meanwhile is introducing its Norton Smartphone Security software, which it claims to be the first to offer protection for Windows Mobile and Symbian devices in a single product. Grab it now (don't want the baddies infecting your N95, do ya?) for $29.99 for a 1-year subscription.

[Via Slashphone]

Read - Symantec Norton Smartphone Security
Read - McAfee VirusScan Mobile

We've got to file this new mobile virus named "Trojan-SMS.SymbOS.Viver" -- and the first such SMS Trojan for Series 60 -- under "frustrating waste of time." Sadly, it is most often the user at fault for downloading for granting a bit of dodgy software access to their darling mobile, and while we do feel the sadness for ya if you get stung, if ya takes the risks, ya pays the consequences. Once installed on the Series 60 device, the trojan will begin sending SMS messages to "premium" SMS numbers at a cost of anywhere from $1 to more than $10 bucks a pop. The clever perp would have set up this number ahead of time and would reap the rewards by splitting the bounty with the mobile operator providing the number. We're pretty sure you could get a chargeback for this type of silliness, but will thank our lucky stars that this is apparently limited to Russia at the moment with nothing -- as of yet, anyway -- being reported over here.

[Via Unwired View]

It appears that some wireless customers in Pakistan were recently worried that they may die due to a virus transmitted via their phones. What did they do in response? For starters, the authorities were inundated with concerned Pakistani phone owners and even some Karachi-area mosques made public announcements that there was indeed a killer mobile virus on the loose. We're not talking a software operating system virus here, but a virus that magically jumps from a person to person using a phone handset (through long-distance airwaves?). Pakistani authorities dismissed the large-scale prank by stating that "They (rumors) do not make any sense in technological terms." We agree.

[Via textually.org, image via How Stuff Works]

What's scarier than a text message luring you into getting your PC all hosed up with virii? An MMS message that somehow manages to do the infection honors all by its lonesome, that's what. Details are now emerging on what appears to be the world's first proof of concept for an MMS virus, exploiting a weakness in the way Windows Mobile 2003 handles SMIL (Synchronized Mutlimedia Integration Language) to cause a buffer overflow -- which in turn leads to the dreaded "arbitrary code execution." The fella responsible for the exploit apparently gave Microsoft the heads-up a solid six months ago; when he never heard back, he went public with it in a big way at Berlin's Chaos Communication Congress. The good news (if you can call it that) is that it's only been tested on the i-mate PDA2K and HP iPaq h6315, both of which are approaching the tail ends of their useful shelf lives. No word on whether the vulnerability applies (or can be easily adapted to) Windows Mobile 2005, but somehow, "we hope not" simply doesn't properly express our sentiments.

[Via El Reg]

Windows Mobile users worried about viruses and other nastiness invading their precious little devices now have another weapon in their arsenal, with McAfee releasing it's VirusScan Mobile software for Windows Mobile 5.0. Available in both standard and Enterprise editions, it'll ward off viruses, worms, trojans, and other attacks, including what some (but not many) refer to as "SMiShing", or phishing scams attempted via SMS, and it'll stop 'em at all corners, including WiFi and Bluetooth. A free 30-day trial's available now for direct download to your device from McAfee's mobile website, with the standard version running you $29.99 for a one-year subscription.

[Via Geekzone]

Anticipating the flurry of excitement surrounding Wimbledon, IBM decided to go all out for the event and outfit trees around London with Bluetooth technology so fans can keep track of scores via their cellphone when they aren't near a TV or at the match itself. Not a bad idea, if you ask most people -- except for McAfee, that is. They're warning that by leaving your phone's Bluetooth function turned on all the time you might as well be begging for a virus -- not an entirely unreasonable warning, given that it's happened before. While McAfee's not telling people to avoid using the service all together, they do recommend that you set your phone to hiddend and only turn on the Bluetooth when you intend to use it, as well as practice a bit of common sense, like not installing applications or opening files that you weren't expecting to receive, and to back up your phone's data regularly. It's not clear what, if anything, the Bluetooth system will be used for after the tournament's over.

[Via textually.org]

Spam via text is nothing new, but it seems crooks are now turning to SMS to cultivate legions of zombie PCs for denial-of-service attacks. The ruse apparently begins when an unsuspecting individual receives a text message thanking them for subscribing to a dating service at the pricey rate of $2 a day, which also includes instructions on how to cancel the service through a website. When the user gets to their PC and navigates to the site, they're instructed to download an executable, and you can probably guess what happens from there. Our question is, if you don't try to cancel, do you get any dating action out of it?

[Via Smart Mobs]

With cellphones becoming more and more computer-like, that invariably means that they're also susceptible to some decidedly computer-like problems; we're talking viruses, DoS attacks, and other headaches. Though far from the first to address the problem, Spansion is promising a new level of security for handsets by implementing security measures directly within the Flash memory subsystem. In addition to warding off threats, Spansion says their system will also enable data recovery, as well as allow for secure mobile financial transactions and access control for things like using a cellphone to open a car door or start a car. A Software Development Kit (SDK) should be available before the end of the year, with the actual security controller available in something called the Spansion Multi Chip Package (MCP) sometime in the first half of 2007. No word yet on any handset manufactures that have signed on to offer the system, however.

If you haven't found an anti-virus solution yet for your Symbian phone, and the mere thought of a piece of malicious code wreaking havoc on your contact list or private pics sends you spiraling into despair, then you might want to give the new Kaspersky Anti-Virus Mobile 2.0 a look-see. Along with your everyday virus blocking, the software works to stop SMS and MMS spam, and can receive regular updates via WAP or HTTP. Currently in beta, the software runs on S60 phones with 6.1, 7.0, 8.0, or 8.1 versions of the OS, but UIQ and Windows Mobile versions should be out for the second beta.