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Fortress PC

Snoops, hackers, and viruses abound online. We identify all the tools you need to defend yourself against these hazards.

By Stan Miastkowski, PCW Print   

Future Threat: Your Next Virus Infection

Automatic updates aren't just for antivirus programs; viruses themselves are getting into the act. Raul Elnitiarta of Symantec's Antivirus Research Center says we can expect more scripts that download plug-ins to expand their capabilities, like the W32.hybris Trojan horse. Hybris was a "sleeper" for most of 2000, according to Elnitiarta, but by February 2001, it accounted for 40 percent of all suspicious scripts sent to SARC for analysis. "I think it sets the trend for the near future," he says.

Elnitiarta thinks that someday we may see more viruses infecting handhelds. Only three such scripts now exist (they were published on the Internet to prove their feasibility), and all affect Palm-based devices: The Trojan horse Liberty and the virus Phage delete files, and the Trojan horse Vapor hides files. Liberty and Vapor can only be synched from an infected PC, but Phage can be transmitted directly from one handheld to another when users beam files to each other.

Elnitiarta says that cell phone viruses haven't appeared because the devices don't share a common operating system--no one is writing viruses to target just Nokia phones, for example. But if a single OS becomes standard for handhelds, they'll be as hospitable an environment as today's Windows-based PCs.

--Seán Captain

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