Mark Wilcox's Forum Nokia Blog - Who will guard the guardians?

Guarding the guardian

Okie may be the purchased version might have that option as mentioned in the user guide
great then

Guarding the guardian

Hi
Yup guardian really is a nice software but just a thought came in my mind when i was trying it,
Now a days i guess majority of the people are aware of this anti theft softwares installed on device and assuming the thief to be smart enough before inserting a new simcard he just checks the mobile phone(offline mode) whether the anti theft software is installed or not and uninstall it on seeing it and then can continue to use the device without any danger.(may be i am thinking a lot but this could be a smart option :) ) then I dont find the use of all the advantages above. :P

Solution:- may be anti theft software should have an option of asking for password before uniinstalling it just like phone guardian.

Not first, just new

Hi Lucian,

Thanks for the comment. No, it's not the first such application but it is new. I also think it is the most comprehensive yet in the functionality it includes that could be used for evil purposes and does it all with fairly basic capabilities.

Symbian Signed has never claimed that it prevents malware but, as I understand it, it is supposed to:
a) Improve consumer confidence.
b) Restrict the possible harm done to the phone.

I guess I'm saying that it's likely to do neither. It's still necessary for AllFiles, DRM, TCB to enable the deployment of genuinely secure applications and anti-piracy measures.

Guardian is going to be fairly tricky to remove if the user protects the software installer and application manager with it. I think the quick and easy option is to re-flash. Which is OK as long as Guardian is spotted before the theif has been tracked.

Mark

It is not the first "guardian" (or "monitor") type of application that manages to prove (or remind) that Symbian Signed does not certify an application against it being a malware/spyware. In fact I don't even think that Symbian Signed makes such a claim, but it is certainly perceived that way.

While I believed for a (short) while that an anti-virus application for Symbian OS 9.x simply does not make sense, now I'm making a priority from finding a good trust worthy solution with a good anti-malware and anti-spyware filters (and no, I am not paid to say so either).

P.S. How long is going to be until somebody will start selling a PDF with instructions on how to remove the "Guardian" from a stolen phone? ;)