Podloso, the first virus custom designed to infect Apple's iPod devices has surfaced
The virus, named Podloso,does not pose a real threat but signals an intent by malware authors to move beyond computers and smart phones.
The virus is a file which can be launched and run on an iPod.
It should be stressed that in order for the virus to function, Linux has to be installed on the iPod. If the virus is installed to the iPod by the user, the virus then installs itself to the folder which contains program demo versions. Podloso cannot be launched automatically without user involvement.
Once launched, the virus scans the device's hard disk and infects all executable .elf format files. Any attempt to launch these files will cause the virus to display a message on the screen which says "You are infected with Oslo the first iPodLinux Virus."
Podloso is a typical proof-of-concept virus. There are created to demonstrate that a specific platform is vulnerable but does not have a malicious payload.
Just to clarify, Podloso is unable to spread. The user has to save the virus to the iPod memory for the device to become infected.
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