Lab spots ipod virus

While they say it’s not a real threat to the millions of iPod owners, Kaspersky Lab, says it has discovered one of the first virus designed to infect the portable media players. The virus, which has been named Podloso, is a proof of concept program which does not pose a real threat, the company said in a release. The virus is a file which can be launched and run on an iPod. It should be stressed that in order for the virus to function, Linux has to be installed on the iPod. If the virus is installed to the iPod by the user, the virus then installs itself to the folder which contains program demo versions. Podloso cannot be launched automatically without user involvement. Once launched, the virus scans the device’s hard disk and infects all executable .elf format files. Any attempt to launch these files will cause the virus to display a message on the screen which says “You are infected with Oslo the first iPodLinux Virus”. Podloso is a typical proof of concept virus. Such viruses are created in order to demonstrate that it is possible to infect a specific platform. They do not have a malicious payload. Additionally, Podloso is unable to spread, the Kaspersky release said It’s not the first virus that has threatened iPod users. Last year Apple discovered that a small number – less than 1% – of the Video iPods available for purchase after September 12, 2006, left the company carrying the Windows RavMonE.exe virus. This known virus affects only Windows computers, and up to date anti-virus software which is included with most Windows computers should detect and remove it. At he time Apple reported only a small number of problems with the virus. Kaspersky Lab recently released software to protect smart phones from viruses, as well as new bundles of its security software to protect devices on business networks. The new Anti-Virus Mobile software will apply the company’s antivirus screening initially to mobile devices based on the Windows Mobile and Symbian operating systems.