GADGET GIZMO SPECIAL...................... Should you worry about cellphone viruses?

GADGET GIZMO SPECIAL  Should you worry about cellphone viruses?



Like computers, phones have sophisticated operating systems and storage systems. This now makes them also a target for viruses

Until a few years ago, cellphones never had a sophisticated operating system, so it was not worth a virus writer's time and effort to design viruses.
The first instance of a mobile `virus' originated in Spain and was limited to subscribers of a Spanish telecom. All it did was send a spam SMS to people. In 2005, a virus called CommwarriorA affected phones running on the now-defunct Symbian Series 6 operating system.
Soon after, another virus called Cabir spread over Bluetooth networks.

With a plethora of phones and operating systems available, cellphone viruses are now a real issue for people who have certain usage patterns with their phones.

You wonder about why you should be concerned about this.
But if you rely on your phone as a repository for a lot of personal, crucial and valuable data it's easy to lose sight of the worst case scenario. Apart from losing your phone or it being stolen or other userrelated accidents, phone viruses are a genuine threat.

Historically carried over from the old PC world, a “virus“ is a program that replicates itself by attaching to another program. Hackers often used this method to spread their nefarious work, and virus became a popular term to refer to all types of malicious software (malware) on computers. In the case of smartphones, to date we have not seen malware that replicate itself like a PC virus can, and it specifically does not exist on Android, so technically there are no Android viruses. However, there are many other types of Android malware. Most people think of any malicious software as a virus, even though it is technically inaccurate.

BLUETOOTH USAGE

this works best for connecting your phone to peripherals like a headset or a device that you can stream music to your stereo from. But conversely, never leave your bluetooth on to accept messages sent from strangers or unknown numbers.
Stay away from all strange Bluetooth invites.

PHONE MEMORY CARD CARE

Some smartphones have enough in-built memory so you don't need to bother about this, but for the ones that do have a card slot, scan the memory card before the antivirus software is set in to the cell phone. Eject your cards properly by following the correct procedure of removing the card reader.

DOWNLOADING APPS FROM THIRD-PARTY SITES

Your best bet would be to stick to the app store that is relevant to the kind of phone you use, whether it is iOS-powered, Windows, BB10 or Android.
And while you're at it, it wouldn't hurt to have a security app installed as well. If you're in doubt, ask a friend who is tech-savvy who can tell the difference between harmless-looking apps that can actually be quite dodgy.

Reagan.Rasquinha BT140531