Security Featured Article

In a recent announcement, VoIP-PAL.Com Inc., a broadband VoIP telecom company, declared that it has successfully completed Beta-testing of new antivirus program for BlackBerry (News - Alert) Torch and all other versions of the BlackBerry smartphone. The company also recently completed beta testing of its new anti-virus program which supports Google Android (News - Alert) 1.6, 2.1 and 2.2.

With the new antivirus, users can protect their handsets against spyware, spam, viruses and malware. VoIP-Pal also plans to launch tools that can be useful for tracking lost and stolen handheld smartphones using GPS.

"Smartphones are being used like little computers," says Dennis Chang, president of VoIP-Pal, "and historically, users have been apathetic about the need for antivirus security, believing that smartphones were immune to viruses and malware. All of that has suddenly changed since 2010, after some of the leading smartphone suppliers who boasted that their devices were virus safe and resistant, were hit with their first round of viruses. The BlackBerry targets business users and today's business IT experts all agree that smartphones now more than ever need some form of antivirus security. With the successful completion of our quality testing, we will soon be offering a comprehensive antivirus security program to the world's BlackBerry users."

The new VoIP-Pal's antivirus security program also includes a unique anti-theft protection system which will track lost or stolen devices using GPS. Once the handset is lost or stolen, GPS will scan the memory cards once they are inserted to prevent any viruses or spyware on a card from infecting the smartphone.

Moreover, the Remote Backup feature of the program will backup all data stored on the smartphone so that contacts and calendar events can be recovered even if the device is stolen or lost.

VoIP-Pal's antivirus program for the BlackBerry will be made available to the public as a bundled package (PointsPhone Platinum which will also include a free BlackBerry App download, air time minutes, and DID) once released on its retail website within the next coming weeks.

Rahul Arora is a TMCnet contributor. He has worked as an editor and freelance writer for several reputed organizations in India. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Janice McDuffee