Trend Micro Extends Anti-Virus Software to Mobile Market

Trend Micro announced today that they are extending their anti-virus product line into the mobile and portable space with the launch of Trend Micro Mobile Security.

The move is well timed, as cellphone and smartphone users are coming under an increasing number of attacks – be they malicious attacks, viruses, Trojans or SMS spam – which this product is aiming to alleviate.

With this in mind, Trend Micro is offering its customers the first edition of Trend Micro Mobile Security free of charge until June 2005.

Trend Micro Mobile Security is compatible with devices from a number of the most popular handset providers, such as the Motorola MPx220, the O2 XPhone, the Sagem myS-7 and the Orange SPV e200.

"Many people will put hi-tech gadgets, data-centric mobile phones and PDAs on their holiday gift wish list. As the number of people using the devices increases, so they become more enticing targets for virus writers," said Raimund Genes, President of EMEA Operations at Trend Micro. "By offering the first version of Trend Micro Mobile Security free of charge, Trend Micro wishes to provide its customers and their data-centric devices a secure holiday season."

The product works like other antivirus software, spotting mobile threats using signatures developed by Trend Micro. The software will protect mobile devices from new threats in "real time," as malicious code attempts to install itself on mobile devices. Users can also scan storage devices inserted into supported phones, or initiate scans of the mobile device manually.

Other companies have also jumped on the mobile anti-virus bandwagon. Symantec released “Symantec Client Security” earlier this month and F-Secure has several mobile-specific products.

Despite the attention from antivirus companies, most experts agree that mobile phone viruses and worms are in their infancy. The first mobile phone worm, dubbed Cabir, appeared in June. Since then, only a handful of new malicious programs that target mobile devices have appeared, and none have spread widely. The new threats include a recent Trojan horse program dubbed "Skulls" that targets devices running the Symbian operating system.