Technology giants are to join forces to build a seminal security platform to protect handheld and Bluetooth users in wake of the world's first mobile phone worm, Cabir.
The 'TrustZone' hardware security chip is a collaborative effort from ARM Holdings and Texas Instruments as part of an industry effort to stop mobile phone worms dead in their trails.
John Cornish, director of product marketing at ARM, said: "As devices become more powerful and capable of executing a wider range of functions and applications, the need for security increases."
"For a large wireless network, a virus weeping across clients and causing a disruption would have an enormous cost for the network operator and for the customers."
The next generation technology is billed to follow on from Intel's XScale handheld chips, inserted into a user's model because of Cabir-style attacks.
Cabir targets Bluetooth users potentially infecting mobile phones, chips and personal data within 30 metres greeting the user with the pretense of a security file, 'Caribe Security Manager.'
Anti-virus provider, Sophos, explained that Cabir has not been reported in the wild and currently poses no direct harm or threat to next-generation users.
Carole Theriault, security consultant at Sophos, said: "This is a proof of concept worm. As far as we know, it has not been seen in the wild and currently poses no threat to anyone. What it does show is that these malicious programes can be written and can spread by the magic of Bluetooth technology."
Texas Instruments, global leader in the digital market, has been utilizing OMAP for protection but will now upgrade security and chip capability with TrustZone.
ARM said the feature has the potential to set an industry benchmark for other mobile chipmakers pioneered from a concept delivered by Microsoft’s Next Generation Secure Code Base.
Compared against computer viruses, Cabir is billed as a starting pistol for 'traditional' virus writers, spammers and online culprits to turn to mobile technology.
Sophos, which safeguards businesses against viruses and spam, told FreelanceUK: "This is a newer technology and people are only beginning to try and exploit it with viruses. The advantage of the phone world is that there are so many mobile operating systems out there."
"This doesn't mean that a virus cannot be written for some of them, but it does mean the potential criminals will need to select a phone system to exploit, and then learn the technology. Not nearly as attractive as writing as writing a Windows virus that can potentially affect 90 per cent of the world's computer users."
The move to TrustZone-enabled chips comes as software developer, Symantec and mobile giant, Nokia, have announced a partnership to incorporate firewall and anti-virus software into new Bluetooth System 60 devices.
Dan McDonald at Nokia Enterprise Solutions, said: "Fundamentally a mobile handset needs to be treated like a laptop. We at Nokia know that it is possible that handsets will in the future be a general target, but it has not happened yet. We feel we are doing a lot of things to make sure it does not happen."
Jul 8, 2004
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