Symantec Launches Virus Protection for Handhelds

Posted By: Ryan Tuesday, August 26, 2003 5:30:45 PM

Amid all the recent hype caused by the latest windows virus problems, Symantec has announced the Symantec AntiVirus for Handhelds line of consumer and enterprise solutions. The new products aim to protect Palm OS- and devices against viruses, worms and other malicious code, even though there are less than 2 known palm os viruses and they are extremely rare.

Symantec AntiVirus for Handhelds will provide both real-time and on-demand scanning. In addition, Symantec AntiVirus for Handhelds will also introduce LiveUpdate Wireless. This feature will enable users with a wireless Internet connection to download virus definitions and Symantec product updates directly to their device over the Web.

The Symantec AntiVirus for Handhelds line of consumer and enterprise solutions will include: Symantec AntiVirus for Handhelds-Annual Service Edition, Symantec AntiVirus for Handhelds-Corporate Edition, and Symantec AntiVirus for Handhelds-Corporate Edition with Event and Configuration Manager. All three products are scheduled to be available for purchase in early September.

Symantec AntiVirus for Handhelds will provide real-time scans through Auto-Protect, which will run continuously and unobtrusively in the background. Auto-Protect will scan for viruses when files are downloaded and when email attachments are received. It will also run when a malicious program tries to execute. Automatic scans, in turn, will run after synchronizations as well as after expansion cards are inserted into the handheld device. On-demand scans will run at the user's discretion. Symantec's antivirus micro-engine will ensure fast and efficient virus scans.

Symantec AntiVirus for Handhelds-Corporate Edition with Event and Configuration Manager will feature additional functionality for centralized logging, alerting, and reporting. With this product, the IT staff will be able to graphically view the status of all handhelds, make configuration changes, and enforce policies-all from a centralized console.

Symantec AntiVirus for Handhelds-Annual Service Edition is scheduled to be available for purchase from retail stores and online retailers in early September. The Annual Service Edition product will be offered as an annual, renewable subscription service to home users at an estimated retail price of US$39.95. Once the annual subscription period ends, users will be able to renew their subscription for US$19.95.

Article Comments

 (23 comments)

The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. PalmInfocenter is not responsible for them in any way.
Please Login or register here to add your comments.

Comments Closed Comments Closed
This article is no longer accepting new comments.

Down

Rofl!

helf @ 8/26/2003 6:21:04 PM #
I bet people will actualyl buy this too.. This is so dumb. A waste of ram.

RE: Rofl!
Gabriel Morales @ 8/26/2003 6:37:58 PM #
Play upon people's fears and concerns and get their money!

I've already had problems with Symantec. Most recently, they returned to me a perfectly valid rebate request. Swindled me out of $50.

RE: Rofl!
ganoe @ 8/27/2003 10:47:22 AM #
> I've already had problems with Symantec.

Yep, they already ripped me off years ago on their buggy WinFax 8.0 program that was supposed to work under Windows NT. Numerous users posted about the same problem in their support forums. After a few patches and promises from their support folks to provide a solution, they dumped support for that version and told us to upgrade to a newer version (that actually had fewer features) for a fix. The support folks who had previously communicated with us were also replaced with different people at that time. Plus at about the same time, they dropped their NNTP support forums making it much more difficult for people to access their support forums. A third-party company even released a hack that they advertised as a solution for the bug.

To say the least, Symantec will never get another penny from me.


Super.

Strider_mt2k @ 8/26/2003 6:23:19 PM #
Twenty Dollars and a chunk of your memory used up so you can rest easy against less than two (Last I checked, that number was ONE) known Palm OS viruses?


What happened to USEFUL products like Norton Utilities?



How many?

rened @ 8/26/2003 6:25:59 PM #
But it's not the first...

We allready have:

Kaspersky:
http://www.telechargement.fr/fiche.html?REF=1701&Langue=FR


F-Secure:
http://www.f-secure.com/wireless/palm/av4palm/

And maybe others for about 3 (?) known virusses:
http://www.europe.f-secure.com/virus-info/v-pics/



RE: How many?
Admin @ 8/26/2003 6:32:03 PM #
Here are the two known:

http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=1259

http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=1158

this is also a good article on the topic:
http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=1744

RE: How many?
cbowers @ 8/26/2003 6:37:36 PM #
YaBut wasn't one of them written by F-Secure as a proof of concept (and never released into the wild)? Or so the whispering goes...

McAfee
4s @ 8/26/2003 11:24:42 PM #
McAfee has claimed Palm virus protection for some time.

http://us.mcafee.com/root/product.asp?productid=vs7



<><

RE: How many?
cbowers @ 8/27/2003 1:07:19 PM #
Yep, and I, for some time now, have been snapping my fingers to scare the elephants away from my backyard. Seems to be working well so far.

Maybe I should pay someone $20 to do it for me.

(Is the proof always in the pudding?)

Auto Protect?

epall @ 8/26/2003 6:33:07 PM #
Hmmm, how exactly does the auto-protect work? Does it just scan for some signature characterisitcs of specific viruses? I think Norton for PC checks for generic virus-like behavior. I could just see AV for palmOS popping up as you enable a benign(and probably useful) hack...

Regards,

Eric Allen
PG Team Leader
PalmGear.com
http://www.palmgear.com
THE source for your Palm Powered world!

Need solutions? Get answers at the PalmGear Knowledge Base! http://palmgear.mykbpro.com/

Old hype reborn...

zampheer @ 8/26/2003 6:50:33 PM #
Yes(No really yes) there are Three:
One virus Phage - not in the wild(probably proof of concept),
One trojan Liberty - overblown hype not really a threat &
One other app that hid exe's by setting the hidden bit - not in the wild.

All of which happened a long time ago and nothing has happened since. I can't image running virus scanning software on my Palm especially if it is not on-demand. I don't want them slowing everything down hooking api's registering for notifications and such.

My 2 cents.

*&%$@*&#$^!!!!!

JKingGrim @ 8/26/2003 7:47:05 PM #
Just incase you didn't see the tile, &^%&@*%$@*@!!!!! I wish they didn't do this nonsense. All they are doing is daring people to make handheld viruses.

RE: *&%$@*&#$^!!!!!
Lucky Bob @ 8/27/2003 9:04:10 AM #
That's exactly what I was thinking...

(Why do some people say you can kill two birds with one stone when it's hard enough killing one bird with two stones?)

I wonder: "Who needs those viruses?"

Konstantin @ 8/26/2003 8:04:00 PM #
The only one who comes in mind are AV companies.

How many viruses exist on the dark side? (PPC)

Less than 2?

I.M Anonymous @ 8/26/2003 9:18:57 PM #
Don't you mean 1?

Symantec is not stupid

PDA_Wannabe @ 8/27/2003 5:02:58 AM #

What they will do is start flooding the POS platform with virus and alike so people will buy the software



RE: Symantec is not stupid
Ben S @ 8/27/2003 7:53:22 AM #
Good luck to them. The PalmOS is a very poor vector for viruses. Nothing happens without the user's permission. At worst, Palms may be susceptible to trojan horses (which aren't really viruses) -- and they can be defeated by a little diligence on the part of the user (like not downloading software from questionable sources, and always checking out new software on POSE or the Simulator). And even if you were to get infected by a mythical virus, a hard-reset and restore will always get you back to normal.

What tripe! Virus software on the PalmOS is worse than useless -- it eats up money, valuable RAM, CPU time (and hence battery life!).

Correct Title: Symantec *Re-Launches* Virus Protection

Haber @ 8/27/2003 5:42:21 AM #
My copy of Norton AntiVirus 2002 Professional Edition included Norton AV for Palm OS. As I remember, it protected against 4 in total. Unfortunately, Norton SystemWorks 2003 Professional Edition did not include this program. Is there anyone with NAV 2003 Pro Ed. that can tell me if it was included in that program?

Stupid

jmstroup @ 8/27/2003 1:24:27 PM #
I was stupid enough to buy NAV 2002 for PalmOS and Symantec was dishonest enough to sell it to me.

RE: Stupid
Bioco @ 8/27/2003 1:47:47 PM #
Talking about being stupid......

I just finished my PALM FUll SCAN and found nothing.
Now I feel safe! :P THANKS NORTON!

PALM III, PALM 150, VISOR PRISM, SONY CLIE SJ30 All of them working.

Yet another self-fulfilling, self-feeding marketing ploy

jbarr @ 8/28/2003 9:06:14 AM #

This is nothing more than a marketing ploy to ride on the coat tails of the fear and hype generated by current Windows-related virus events. The PalmOS has NEVER been a virus-prone platform, so such an application offers nothing more than a false "peace of mind." Yes, there one or two (or three) apps that were "problem" apps, but these are now extremely rare. The bigger threat is companies releasing "final" apps to the general public that are nothing more than "beta" versions, relying on the user base to do their debugging. This has caused me more headaches than ANY virus has ever caused.

A Palm-specific virus simply can't spread from Palm-to-Palm like it does in the Windows world (aka, the email systems.) Current Palm implementations cannot propogate a virus in the same manner, so any app (though maybe promoted as "preventative") is "shielding" you from something that simply doesn't currently exist. In time, with more and more connectivity capabilities, it could become more of a risk, but like a posting above stated, these companies are simply daring people to write a virus.

Don't bother wasting your money on this kind of false, useless crap. Your best bet is to acquire or purchase your apps from reputable sources and don't install something you don't know anything about. Beyond that, it's your own damn fault if you mess things up...



Another Idea

Konstantin @ 8/28/2003 11:44:45 AM #
What Symantec should scan is the files/programs 'to be installed' on a Palm while they re in the computer used to hotsync. Scan them for "palm viruses".
Though 'unwired pda times are counted" many will serve using only the hotsync computer.

RE: Another Idea
zampheer @ 8/29/2003 4:28:51 PM #
Most virus scanners will already do this. Virus scanners (symantec & Mcaf) usually include the sigs for win and pda viruses.
Top

Account

Register Register | Login Log in
user:
pass:

Latest Comments

  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST((SELECT/**/CASE/**/IS_SRVROLEMEM
  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST((SELECT/**/CASE/**/IS_SRVROLEMEM
  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST((SELECT/**/CASE/**/IS_SRVROLEMEM
  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000