Antivirus software for mobile phones and other digital hand-held devices, such as Pocket PCs, are programs designed to protect these devices from malicious threats. Mobile devices such as smartphones and PDAs are used in an interactive environment with large amounts of data exchange, and as such, they are vulnerable to attacks from viruses and other forms of mobile threats. Mobile antivirus software such as Norton and Eset provide mobile security for compatible devices.
The Ideal Mobile Antivirus
An effective mobile antivirus software is a specially developed program that offers similar levels of protection on different platforms. The antivirus should be a small program that can be installed and uninstalled easily, and should be designed with an intuitive interface for ease of use. Mobile phones are available in a range of brands and models, each with different firmware, and an antivirus solution should be able to support the most common platforms. Typical protection offered by mobile antivirus software include scanning attachments and file transfers, scanning traffic and filtering spam SMS.
Features
Antivirus software developers have diversified into the mobile antivirus market because the threats are real and their customers seek solutions to the problem. Not all antivirus offer the same quality of protection, and some developers may incorporate security features that are unique. For example, Norton's mobile antivirus software blocks "snoopware," malicious codes designed to intrude a mobile phone and export personal data, or initiate the camera. Some antivirus programs, such as Eset Mobile Antivirus, allow users to view comprehensive statistics and summary of past detections and quarantined files. Another brand, F-Secure, incorporates an anti-theft feature.
Proactive Protection
Antivirus with a proactive protection system is able to detect and destroy threats before they can cause harm to a mobile device. A proactive technology may use advanced heuristics to protect against previously unidentified threats by checking for suspicious behavior. An antivirus program that updates its virus definition files (list of identified viruses to be targeted) regularly is able to keep abreast of latest and newly introduced threats, and eliminate them from the mobile device. Mobile antivirus software has fast signature scanners that run in the background and may be set to run automatically without requiring prompts from the user.
On-Demand Scans
A mobile phone user may run on-demand scans to check memory, active processes and files, and removable media devices for malware. On-demand scans are supported by most mobile antivirus software, and allow the user to scan the device when presence of a malicious software is suspected. An on-demand scan searches deep into the system and reports any activity that the system does not recognize, or has not initiated. On-demand scans are more resource-intensive and may considerably slow down other processes.
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