Apple iPhone School » iVirusScan

iVirusScan 1.0b02

Brooke — Tue, 06 May 2008 03:19:24 +0000

I put off checking out the update for this app however, there are a few fixes with version 1.0b02 of iVirusScan as well as a few new features and options. One new feature includes Quarantine Statistics. I do not have any files in quarantine so, I can’t tell you much about the feature (and I have yet to see a reason for this app but, that is my own personal opinion and I will do my best to not let it affect my review of this app!). Another new options, which I think was needed, is the ability to delete log entries. In the Settings, you will notice a few new features. You can now choose the cache size as well as the size of the Logs. If you would like to clear a log, just tap the Clear option which will bring you to another menu. From here you can clear the log based on Size or Date. I must say, this app is easy to use and sturdy. iVirusScan is available through the McAfeeMobile source.

Version 1.0b02 Fix-Log:
• Fixed a memory leak inside the engine
• Improved installer automation

iVirusScan 1.0a08

Brooke — Sat, 03 May 2008 14:18:37 +0000

iVirusScan is an app created by McAfee (though leaked to the public) to scan for viruses on your iPhone. When you open the app, you will get a splash screen letting you know that this is a beta version of the app. From here you will be brought to the main info screen. There is information about the Version of the app, the DB Version, Last Update date/time, Logs, OAS Statistics and more info about the app. Inside the Logs options you will see two logs, OAS Logs and Application Logs. Inside each log you get the log history, you can select an entry to get even more specific information about that entry. The same goes for the Application Logs. The OAS Statistics option gives you the following information; Files Scanned, Total Size, Scan Errors, Files Infected, Cache Hits and Cache Size.

On the lower menu bar you will see four options. Info (which the app opens to), Scan, Update and Settings. The Update option…I’m going to guess….updates the virus list. The Setting option only has one setting, the ability to turn on/off the virus scan. If you select the Scan Option you will get a screen with a Scan button. If you tap the Scan button, it will begin to scan your iPhone. At anytime during the scan you can select Cancel to cancel the scan. Once the scan is complete you will get a screen displaying the number of Files Scanned, the Total Size, the Scan Performance and the number of Viruses Found. Honestly guys…I see no need to install this app. There are no known viruses on the iPhone so, I’m not really what it is scanning for. I found that when I had iVirusScan on, it massively ran down my battery because it was running in the background though, you can shut that off in the settings. Install at your own risk. iVirusScan is available through the McAfeeMobile Dev Repository.

iVirusScan from McAfee is real!

Douglas — Sat, 03 May 2008 04:23:45 +0000

According to tuaw.com, they recieved info about the McAfee Virus Program being true. The director of worldwide PR for McAfee says:

The application you blogged about is indeed a genuine McAfee project. We are always working on new platforms including the popular ones. In this particular case we were running a test to validate some recently developed technology. We happen to be first to test AV technology for iPhone. We’re happy that iPhone users are already getting excited about it, as evidenced by your blog and the thousands of people who are trying out the application. Still, we are not ready to announce a new product, our development work is in the early stages.

We hope you can understand why we were so concerned about this in the beginning. I still stand by my previous statement:

McAfee would not go around Apple and beta test a virus scan program for the iPhone through a hacker community. That would mean they support jailbreaking your iPhone (which voids your warranty) to install their app. They would more likely go through Apple’s App Store to distribute their product. The only way it would be real is if it was leaked or stolen from them and distributed without their permission.

This was all to be private but was leaked somehow. It was not meant to be released to the public. We did test this on Brooke’s iPhone earlier with no problems. I just installed it before writing this article and the source and install went fine. Of course since this is in beta and not meant for public be aware there still could be problems. Brooke did comment on battery drain earlier but background scanning can be turned off and on via settings. We will be doing a full review tomorrow.

I hope everyone understands we were cautious and aggressive about this at first in order to keep your iPhones safe. Thanks to those who were sending us correct info, we just had to verify it from McAfee first.