For the past couple of years, viruses, worms, trojans, have ravaged countless computers all over the world. With the introduction of 3G networks, more and more mobile phones will be equipped with connectivity to the Internet. As phones nowadays become mini computers held in the hand, it becomes easy to connect to the net, especially with email capabilities and web browsing functions in built in newer phones. This subsequently means that there is a new playground for virus makers or those who write malicious programs to steal information from your mobile phone.

With such hindsight in mind, Nokia has developed a phone firewall to reduce this vulnerability when connecting to the internet. According to New Scientist, the firewall is part of the mobile network, and not just sitting on the mobile phone like a traditional firewall sitting on a PC. The firewall, as all firewalls are, acts as a barrier between the phone and the internet.

The firewall is described to work on the network level by allowing recognised data to flow through to the mobile phone via “pinholes” that legitimate data can be transmitted and received on the internet. Unknown data packets are blocked automatically.

www.newscientisttech.com