Data security player Kapersky Labs has claimed to have created the first virus that is capable of infecting iPod music and video players.
However, before iPod owners the world over get their knickers (or headphones) in a twist, it must be said the virus is harmless.
The security vendor said that the malware only affects iPods whose owners have replaced the Apple operating system with a Linux version.
As well as this the virus – entitled “Podloso” – is unable to actually “infect” the players and users would have to actively go and download the Trojan Horse.
Once downloaded the virus scans the iPod hard drive and infects all executable files.
Kapersky has revealed the virus as a warning of what may be on the horizon.
Three years ago it worked with Finnish software company F-Secure to test the world’s first worm that infects Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones. Since then several hundred phone viruses, some malicious, now exist.
By John Kennedy
