Insecurity

Posted on December 6, 2008 by David Randall

An article from Friday’s NY Times underscores concerns about the increasing virulence of Internet .  “Thieves Winning Online War, Maybe on Your PC” opens with this sentence:  “Internet security is broken, and nobody seems to know quite how to fix it.”  It follows with sobering data:

  • Data theft, credit card fraud, and Internet scams are estimated to cost $100 billion a year;
  • The number of online computers infected by malevolent botnets is expected to increase from 10% to 15% next year;
  • A survey of 36 commercial antivirus products showed that they could identify fewer than 50% of the newest malicious programs;
  • “Microsoft has monitored a 43 percent jump in malware removed from Windows computers just in the last half year.”

If these facts are not depressing enough then read the whole article.

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  • Angelo H

    For how useful computers are, they really get to be a pain to deal with. We are eventually going to need some sort of “Internet police” for us to protect ourselves, and I feel if then it would be impossible. As Alex said, it really is a losing battle.

  • http://www.partlyrainy.com alexc

    I work in an IT department part-time and I’d have to say that I have had to deal with my share of malware countless times. These programs are just getting smarter and smarter and the only way to prevent them from doing any damage is a) learn more about computing and know how to identify malware (honestly not a hard feat) b) install and utilize a plethora of malware/virus/spyware applications which in the end would just hog up your system’s resources and essentially be malevolent in the long run or c) switch to an operating system that isn’t targeted as much by malware (see OS X, various Linux, etc…). It’s really a losing battle.

  • cujoespo

    See: Die Hard 4

  • Victor Pan

    Did you read Monday’s Wallstreet Journal? Is cyber security the new buzz issue now or what?

    New Emphasis on Cyber Security

    WASHINGTON – A commission of technology experts will propose consolidating cyber security work under a top White House official and using diplomatic, intelligence, and military tools to confront threats in cyberspace…US Agencies from the Pentagon to the Department of Homeland Security as well as Pentagon contractors have experienced major cyber break-ins. Intelligence officials estimate US losses from cyber breaches to be in the multiple billions of dollars…