Security firm Kaspersky Lab is reporting the discovery of the first virus that targets iPods. Before you hit the panic button, be aware that Podloso (as it has been named) is a proof of concept program and does not pose any real threat. How can Kaspersky Lab be sure? In order for the virus to work, your iPod must be running Linux. Then you would need to copy the virus over to the iPod and manually launch it for it to do anything.
What does Podloso do? Once triggered, 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”.
I wonder how long it will be before we see anti-virus software for iPods now.
It’s not first time that iPods have carried viruses. Late last year, Apple shipped some iPods with a Windows virus. The RavMonE virus did not affect iPods but could affect to Windows PCs when connected to it.