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SK Telecom Offers Cellular Anti-Virus Service

By Beatrice Arnfield
Enterprise Security Today
June 21, 2004 2:41PM

Anticipating future mobile virus attacks -- and hoping to gain an edge on its competitors -- South Korea-based SK Telecom is offering an antivirus service for cell phones and smartphones.

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SK Telecom, South Korea's largest cell-phone operator, is looking for a competitive edge over its rivals by offering an antivirus service for cell phones and smartphones . With 75 percent of South Korea's population already subscribing to cell-phone services, the competition between the three main operators is intense.
In total, the three South Korean carriers, SK Telecom, KTF and LG Telecom, have 36 million subscribers.

Middleware Platform

The virus-protection service, which SK Telecom expects to offer from the third quarter of this year, will protect phones using the WIPI (wireless Internet protocol interoperability) platform. Developed in South Korea, WIPI is a middleware platform that allows users to download games and music to mobile terminals.

The Cabir worm that appeared recently attacked the Symbian cell-phone operating system and spread through Bluetooth-connected cell phones.

Competition BREWing

WIPI competes with Qualcomm's software-downloading technology known as "BREW" (binary runtime environment for wireless). The Korean government intends to require the three cell-phone companies to use WIPI.

The anti-virus service from SK Telecom will use V3 Mobile software, which has been developed in collaboration with South Korean Internet security firm AhnLab. It will allow users to download virus definitions through wireless Internet connections and check all files that are downloaded or executed.

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