Antivirus For iPhone

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TexasRealtor Author

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Antivirus For iPhone

Do I need an antivirus program for my new iPhone?

Posted on Nov 7, 2007 9:57 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 7, 2007 9:59 AM in response to TexasRealtor

No. And you can't download one either. The iPhone is what it is and provides security in itself.

Safari is a very secure web browser. I have had my iPhone for quite sometime and it is virus free (as far as I know) and nothing has gone wrong with it.

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Answer 2

Mr_Mason

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Nov 7, 2007 10:00 AM in response to TexasRealtor

No...if you have an unlocked Iphone then I would worrie. but since its locked you should be fine.

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Answer 3

TexasRealtor Author

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Nov 7, 2007 10:04 AM in response to Mr_Mason

So does safari scan email attachments like my laptop antivirus?

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Answer 4

Kyn Drake

Level 7

21,585 points

Nov 7, 2007 10:20 AM in response to TexasRealtor

No, and I think that's what you were getting at initially, correct? You wanted to know not if the iPhone can get infected BUT if your iPhone has any way to prevent forwarding infected emails to others? And no, the iPhone does not have software available to offer this level of protection.

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Answer 5

TexasRealtor Author

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Nov 7, 2007 10:51 AM in response to Kyn Drake

I am not too techie, so I hope you with bear with me. This is my first PDA type device (I used to have a Razor phone). I got a nasty virus on my laptop and had to wipe the hard drive and reload everthing. I have not had much experience with macs and didn't know if they were as vunerable as windows. I didn't know if I had to install an antivirus like a pc-cillin or something.

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Answer 6

Nov 7, 2007 11:38 AM in response to TexasRealtor

You don't need A/V software on your iPhone.
There are currently no known viruses which can infect a Mac OSX system.
Since the iPhone also runs a variant of OSX, you're pretty much safe for now.
Mac OSX is not nearly as vulnerable as Windows.

(To all the hardcore AV/Security type people reading this... yes, I know I'm oversimplifying. Done intentionally, since the user indicated they are "not too techie".)

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Answer 7

Mr_Mason

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Nov 7, 2007 5:08 PM in response to Rich Fleming

Yes there is, there is a new trojan thats been out a lil before leopard came out. It can hurt all but the oldest version of macs I believe.

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Answer 8

Nov 7, 2007 5:23 PM in response to Mr_Mason

A Trojan horse is not a virus.
Trojans require user intervention in order to "infect" an OS, and they do not self-replicate.

I'm not about to get into a debate about this, as this topic can be (and has been) discussed ad nauseam.

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Answer 9

Mr_Mason

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Nov 7, 2007 5:31 PM in response to Rich Fleming

You are correct I apologize. 🙂

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Answer 10

mixvio

Level 1

5 points

Nov 7, 2007 6:36 PM in response to TexasRealtor

A trojan is a type of virus. And the claim that there are no viruses for OSX is just... funny. I also believe that the iPods and iPhone run a version of UNIX, though I might be wrong on that, so that's not technically OSX either though they have the same core functionality.

However at the moment you're safe as the restricted nature of the device is going to make it harder to hack; but the original jailbreaking method took advantage of an exploit and it's just a fact of life that any system that connects to the outside is going to get hacked. Especially if that system is a popular target.

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