Mobile Phone Antivirus - Continued

SpyBot Search & Destroy for Mobile
http://www.safer-networking.org/
With mobile phones becoming an everyman’s first point for access to technology, isn’t it just a matter of time before hackers decide to concentrate solely on these? We use banking services through our phone, pay our bills, and access our email, etc, making phones the ideal target for data thefts.

Thankfully, spyware and malware aren’t as ubiquitous on cell phones as they are on computers. Still, there has been an increase in the number of reported threats on handheld platforms and it seems very likely to go up.

One of the best tools to check the threat of spyware and malware on PCs, SpyBot – Search & Destroy, has been launched in SpyBot – Search & Destroy Mobile Editions.

SpyBot Mobile uses a lightweight version of the original software to primarily detect threats on Windows Mobile phones although it also scans some Symbian-based platforms. The possibility of the latter being infected is rare, the company says, but adds that they could act as carriers for malware to infect other phones.

Taking up a mere 2.6 MB of disk space, the installation is smooth and simple for even a layman, and those who have used the PC version of Spybot will find themselves right at home.

Starting the application, the home screen is quite idiot-proof. There’s a ‘Scan’ button at the bottom left, hitting which starts the program. Now, users are advised to be a little patient for about an half an hour, depending on the size of your memory card and the amount of data you have on it. Still, you won’t be running this every day, so it’s a small price to pay for a once in a while application.

Once you are done with the scan, the usual options of Quarantine, Remove, etc, pop up. Perform the appropriate action and you’re good to go!

The program lacks the kind of real time monitoring tool, but it won’t be really needed at the moment, it might be so in the future.

Platforms: Windows Mobile, Symbian
Price: Free

Mobile Phone Antivirus

Virus Threats on mobile phones are increasing. In the past two years, Trend Micro and F-Secure have released several reports - the most notable ones being at the Cellular Telephone Industries Association annual gatherings- that talked of a trend where viruses have been on the rise in cell phones.

The bulk of these viruses were found to be on the two platforms: Windows Mobile and Symbian. Needless to say, antivirus companies from Symantic to Kaspersky were quick to launch several mobile antivirus kits. A free antivirus would not be good enough; think again.

NetQin Antivirus
http://www.netqin.com/
For a waiting to hand in a freeware antivirus from Avg, Avast or Avira, till then NetQin's mobile antivirus package from Chinese firm is possible alternative.

The installation is pretty easy and straightforward, and doesn't take up much disk space. Upon installation, it’ll prompt for an update of the virus definition files, done quickly over your wireless connection.

The first scan will, of course, take a long time and users should be prepared to start it at night, before sleeping. The software claims to dig into the core of each file to scan it and uses battery power effectively while at it – two aspects that have been verified by several reviewers.

Still, if you do start the scan during the day and need to use the phone in between, hit the helpful ‘pause’ button and resume the scan whenever you have time.

What’s more, the software features a great real-time monitoring tool. NetQin is vigilant about any data that is being sent over SMS, MMS, Bluetooth, infra-red, GPRS and other network connections, and claims to detect and block threats effectively.

The smashing part about this program is that apart from Windows mobile and Symbian, it’s also compatible with almost every Nokia phone out there.

Platforms: Windows Mobile, Symbian, Nokia S40 Operating system
Price: Free