Internet News Internet Investing Internet Technology Windows Internet Tech. Discuss this story in the Wireless Devices Forum . When you ask consumers if their PCs are protected by antivirus applications lurking on the system in search of malicious code, some of the more technically knowledgeable people will tell you confidently that they are protected by Norton or McAfee, or one of any number of security applications on the market today. Not really, since the wireless industry does not yet have security standards to fall back on. This has caused some in the industry to be more than a little disturbed.
People have passwords for PDAs that can be modified by hackers using an executable command.
What makes mobile devices so vulnerable is that they're so open source. Peer said that although there are about four main Palm viruses, Liberties A and B, Phage and Vapor, the ceiling for hackers to script new strains of malicious code is limitless, the black hole into which important information may be stolen, altered or lost, bottomless. Peer warns that, just as it did for PCs, technology will advance, paving the way for hackers to meet new challenges. But Peer also said users looking for protection can take heart in the fact that many security software developers are gearing up for mobile device use growth with new solutions. While the Palm offering may seem anticlimactic at first given the industry's current awareness of the four Palm viruses, it actually isn't.