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Oh Thank Goodness, Someone Made an Antivirus App For Android
Posted by John Herrman at 10:09 PM on November 6, 2008
Ask an avid desktop Linux user if he or she (ok, he) uses an antivirus solution, and he won't give you an answer, he'll give you a sermon. And while his zeal might be inappropriate, his sentiment will be largely correct: Linux really doesn't need antivirus software. Android, with a smaller market share and simpler guts than most common Linux distros, has even less to worry about — which is why it's completely absurd for SMobile systems to release VirusGuard, the first antivirus software for the mobile platform.
The only thing better than a robot may be a papercraft robot, and computer security software company Symantec clearly totally realises this. Because to better educate the public on various malware bots that can infect their systems, Symantec has released free thematic papercraft robots. And kudos to their marketing department--they aren't covered in logos for Norton Antivirus or something. Here's a picture of their identity theft bot. Hit the link to collect all two! [
The U.S. Military has spent millions of dollars on counterfeit computer components over the years, according to an FBI report. This not only screws over businesses, but it also makes it easier for cyber-terrorists to hack into our systems by putting trojans and viruses in fake circuitry. An anti-counterfeit initiative by the FBI, led to 15 criminal cases and over US$3.5 million worth of seized products.
Oh Spam, my how you have grown! Thirty years ago, on this day, you came into the world as a little misguided e-mail sent by an equipment engineer over Arpanet to promote a new line of computers. You were quickly shot down by other Arpanet users who called it an "insult... to have an obvious commercial message sent out over a research network." Yet, at some point in time, people stopped protesting you loudly enough. Now you comprise 80 percent to 95 percent of all e-mail sent, your crafty trojans and pesky viruses have infected millions of computers, and you've cost IT departments nearly US$200 billion to combat you. But since it's your birthday, instead of telling you like we usually do to GTFO, let us sing you a little song instead. It goes something like this:
According to Sophos computer security, there will be one million distinct viruses and malware by the end of 2008. But 25% of that malware has been produced just in the last six months. Luckily, not all the stats published by PC World are that troubling...but it's not all roses and daffodils either.
Shane Macaulay, the hacker who 
