Can phones get viruses?

Question

it was like "aisubdlabjs" from envysinc. whats envysinc? is it like a virus? i never get random texts like that.

Answer 1

Yes, but only some of them.

The only kind of mobile phones that is seriously threatened by viruses are the phones that run the Symbian S60 R2 operating system. This is mostly the older models of Nokia's smart phones. Proof-of-concept viruses also exist for devices running the PalmOS, Windows Mobile and Symbian UIQ operating systems - but they have no chances of surviving in the wild. Also, there are no viruses for the phones that use the Symbian S60 R3 operating system (mostly - the newer models of Nokia's smart phones), since it is much more secure and is incompatible with the R2 version.

The vast majority of mobile phone models CANNOT be infected. The only kind of third-party programs you can install on them are usually Java (J2ME) midlets - and the Java security model makes the creation of a virus (or of an anti-virus program, or even a file manager, for that matter) impractical.

Also if, when connected to a PC, the phone looks like an USB drive to it, and if the PC is infected with some particular kinds of viruses, the virus can copy itself to the phone. However, it will be inert there - it cannot run on the phone and cannot even infect another PC from it, since autoplay doesn't work for USB drives. So, technically, the phone is not infected, even though it contains a copy of the virus.

Answer 2

Yes. More and more each day.

Hackers are now targeting cell phones as they become just as widespread as computers.

While its hard to program a "virus" for a cell phone, on advanced models that simulate a computer the scares of viruses are becoming a very real threat.