Can you get a virus?

[Backnblack]

Reads more of a malious apparently than a true virus

 

[darreno1]

Lime I asked in my previous post...link to a story on a known virus in android.

Anyone?

Ask...and ye shall receive. (not on our beloved Droids...but on an Android phone nonetheless)

Mariposa virus makes jump to mobile cell phones - TECH.BLORGE.com

Malware-Packed HTC Magic Sold, Shipped By Vodafone | Android Phone Fans

This is not really the same thing. Coming 'packed with a virus' is not the same as getting an infection externally.

 

[christim]

And...if it is a virus on the phone, what is the best method to scan it and prove it?

short answer:
using software designed to scan your operating system followed by the process of elimination and deduction.

long answer:
If you have an antivirus package on your computer it scans for known viruses. It finds them, gets rid of them, and life goes on. It is likely you don't even monitor this as it occurs. What tends to happen is someone goes "hey...how come all my jpg's are now .vbs files?" or "hey, I didn't order 50 big screen tv's and ship them to Russia". In the corporate world things start not working right. Connections get sluggish and someone traces it back to a location spewing out garbage.

So..is your phone acting funny? Did everyone in your contact list just get an email with a link to a malicious website asking, "hey, is this you?". It gets technical. A packet sniffer on your phone can see if the phone is "phoning home" to report back keystrokes that might have been logged. If you aren't communicating with .ru or .ch domains and your phone is, then that's a sign something is up. You may have such tools on your home network. In the example of the above links the situation happened (pc infection attempted) and it was traced back to the phone. Someone had to then figure out what triggered it, what code it was attached to, etc.

 

[christim]

Lime I asked in my previous post...link to a story on a known virus in android.

Anyone?

Ask...and ye shall receive. (not on our beloved Droids...but on an Android phone nonetheless)

Mariposa virus makes jump to mobile cell phones - TECH.BLORGE.com

Malware-Packed HTC Magic Sold, Shipped By Vodafone | Android Phone Fans

This is not really the same thing. Coming 'packed with a virus' is not the same as getting an infection externally.

It got on there somehow. I could send you an app that put the same thing on your card or say here is a script that will remove ads while you browse the web. Granted, it is open source and some sort of peer review should take place to review my code and the virus should be seen and I'd be called out for it. But...would this be before or after your PC got infected?
BlacknBlack asked for a link to a news item about a virus on an Android phone. The phone had a virus that tried to do its job to the pc.

 

[christim]

Reads more of a malious apparently than a true virus

Yes. More of a trojan horse or malware. I don't know if was was reproducing itself on the PC it got mounted to so it could then do the same and continue replicating elsewhere. However, by definition, it was attached to the mounting process and could have attempted to deliver anything.

I'll add that I think we are very low at risk for these type of things and am not trying to scare anyone...just trying to make them be aware. There are extra steps we can take to protect our phones, but as I said before if something just messes the phone itself up we can get back to stock and things are fixed.

For those who have a stock phone...this really is something you don't have to worry about as much. Admin rights are locked away so nothing can take advantage of administrative powers.

 

[darreno1]

Ask...and ye shall receive. (not on our beloved Droids...but on an Android phone nonetheless)

Mariposa virus makes jump to mobile cell phones - TECH.BLORGE.com

Malware-Packed HTC Magic Sold, Shipped By Vodafone | Android Phone Fans

This is not really the same thing. Coming 'packed with a virus' is not the same as getting an infection externally.

It got on there somehow. I could send you an app that put the same thing on your card or say here is a script that will remove ads while you browse the web. Granted, it is open source and some sort of peer review should take place to review my code and the virus should be seen and I'd be called out for it. But...would this be before or after your PC got infected?
BlacknBlack asked for a link to a news item about a virus on an Android phone. The phone had a virus that tried to do its job to the pc.

Well the point is, there are hurdles to overcome before it becomes wild. If it was packed on there by the phone company then they have no such hurdles. I'm not saying that I can't get infected by some trojan horse app, however, most apps are reviewed and I'd say the majority of users install them based on those reviews including myself so the chance if it making it far is very slim.
But I agree, the weakest link is always going to be the user.