Johannesburg, 13 Sep 2007
Symantec is offering consumers an anti-virus package for cellphones.
Although it has been offering a corporate cellphone anti-virus (Symantec Enterprise Edition) for some time, Premlan Padayachi, country manager - consumer (Africa) explains: "With more and more smartphones available for business and personal use, we need to make sure everyone is secured."
Padayachi says an increase in demand for 3G and WiFi spots is a good indication that SA has become mobile-crazy. "We live and die by it," he says.
However, he says an increase in any device's popularity is always followed by increased threats.
"To date," he explains, "there are 236 known viruses for cellphones and this number is only set to increase."
Cellphone viruses affect any phone with a Symbian system and some of the threats include snoopware (where phone conversations can be hacked into via Bluetooth) and Bluejacking (sending anonymous text messages to other phone users via Bluetooth), he notes.
Padayachi says there are also more and more "walk-ins" - consumers taking their virus-infected phones to be reset.
Symantec's new consumer offering will be available on the shelves at the end of October, and will include an anti-virus and firewall, as well as Norton's Mobile Security. Suggested retail price is R420.
Share