You have probably heard of the headaches computer viruses can cause. These are usually associated with personal computers, but can they also infect smartphones? In this article we seek to give you an answer.
Computer viruses are a reality since computers exist. These can be developed for various reasons. From stealing sensitive personal information like bank details, industry secrets or files with private information to simply being used to cause chaos and damage to the targeted computer system.
In conjunction with these maliciously crafted pieces of software, antivirus software soon began to emerge. The latter aim to prevent or neutralize virus infection in situations of infection. Thus, an antivirus is today essential software in any computer system, as a preventive company measure against attacks.
To better understand which systems are most likely to be infected with viruses, it is important to understand what the preferred targets are. Often the preferred target is the most common computer system. That is, because viruses are often developed to spread as much as possible, they are usually developed with the most common system configuration in mind. This is one of the reasons why Windows computers are more susceptible to attacks than Linux systems. Because Windows is so much more popular, making it the most widely used operating system in the world, it makes sense that viruses are mostly developed for it. A virus for Linux would have much less room to spread from due to the reduced number of computers running this operating system compared to Windows.
The above reasoning also justifies why smartphone viruses in the recent past have not yet taken a high proportion. However, with the mass use of these devices, we are in a transition phase.
A smartphone can be infected with viruses, just like any other computer system. The goals can be the same as traditional computer viruses and do similar damage. Its origin is also similar. An attachment in an email, a file downloaded from a page, or an application obtained from non official app stores can be the gateway to a virus on your smartphone. So you should pay attention to the source of everything you install or open on your smartphone.
On the other hand, there are also several antivirus options for mobile devices. These add extra protection to your equipment. In case of infection they can neutralize the threat before it can cause damages.
Computer viruses can infect smartphones just as they do personal computers. Their origin and ways of fighting are similar among smartphone or personal computer viruses. The main advice is to install an antivirus and avoid opening files from unreliable sources.