Palmtop viruses

Palmtops or PDAs provide new opportunities for viruses, but so far virus writers have shown little interest.

Palmtops or PDAs run special operating systems – such as Palm and Microsoft PocketPC. These are vulnerable to malicious code, but so far the risks are low.

There are currently only a few items of known malware written for Palm.

Virus writers prefer to target desktop systems, perhaps because they are more popular and allow viruses to spread rapidly via email and the internet.

The real risk at present is that your palmtop will act as a carrier. When you connect it to a home or offi ce PC to synchronize data, a virus that is harmless on the palmtop could spread to the PC, where it can do harm. To avoid this risk, follow our tips on How to avoid viruses, Trojans, worms and spyware and always run anti-virus software on your desktop computer.