First Pocket PC Virus Surfaces

BitDefender AntiVirus - Data Security, AntiVirus Software, Free Protection claims to have been provided the very first virus on the Windows CE platform for evaluation. The virus, called WinCE.Dust.A by the security firm, infects all the PE (ARM executable) files stored in the root directory of the device. It then asks the user:

Dear User, am I allowed to spread?

The virus has not been released into the wild and was created as a "proof of concept" - that virii and malicious programs can be created for Pocket PC systems. The creators also authored the Cabis virus for the Symbian OS.



At this point Microsoft does not provide updates for Pocket PC - It is up to the OEM to provide updates to the end users. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Most likely many anti virus/firewall/etc programs will start to crop up in the near future.