October, 2006
With the growing number of virus attacks, spyware, spam and phishing, computers
and networks, both business and home, are in constant danger of being compromised
and must be protected.
In a business, the network is the lifeblood of the company
and any attack causes destruction of some kind. Even if the network or workstations
are not directly damaged, the time to clean up the infections can cause, at
the very least, network slowdown.
Most companies employ anti-virus and anti-spam scanning on
the email servers.
In addition to the email scanning, every workstation is connected to an Antivirus Server that maintains and updates each workstation.
Although this is a simple solution, it is inconvenient and,
at times, disrupts the normal flow of the day.
Rather than block those sites we are all familiar with and
use often, you can implement deep and severe intrusion protection at the entrance
point of the Internet to the network. This removes any dependence on other
mail services, such as Hot Mail and Yahoo, to scan their email before passing
messages on. It also protects
services such as Microsoft Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and Internet Audio /
Video sites.
With full proactive network monitoring
to protect an unlimited number of workstations from a central location.
Computer viruses aren't the only threat.
In fact, the list of potential security issues gets longer each month.
For example, in addition to computer viruses, there are worms, Trojan horses,
spyware, adware, scumware, etc.
Let's briefly look at each of these threats:
Computer viruses are designed to spread from one computer to another quickly.
Here's what Webopedia says about computer viruses: "A program or piece of
code that is loaded onto your computer without your knowledge and runs
against your wishes. Viruses can also replicate themselves. All computer viruses
are manmade. A simple virus that can make a copy of itself over and over
again is relatively easy to produce. Even such a simple virus is dangerous
because it will quickly use all available memory and bring the system to a
halt.
An even more dangerous type of virus is one capable of transmitting itself
across networks and bypassing security systems."
Some computer viruses don't do anything malicious -- others can wipe out everything
on your hard drive. Worms are self-propagating computer viruses.
Webopedia defines a worm as: "A program or algorithm that replicates itself
over a computer network and usually performs malicious actions, such as using
up the
computer's resources and possibly shutting the system down." Their impact
is similar to computer viruses.
Trojan Horses are closely related to computer viruses, but they differ in
that they do not attempt to replicate themselves. More specifically, a Trojan
Horse performs some undesired -- yet intended -- action while, or in addition
to, pretending to do something else. A common example is a fake login program,
which collects account information and passwords by asking for this info just
like a normal login program does. Here's what Webopedia says about Trojan
horses, including where the term comes from: "A
most
story in Homer's Iliad, in which the Greeks give a giant wooden horse to their
foes, the Trojans, ostensibly as a peace offering. But after the Trojans drag
the horse inside
their city walls, Greek soldiers sneak out of the horse's hollow belly and
open the city gates, allowing their compatriots to pour in and capture Troy."
Spyware is software that tracks your actions and/or your Internet use. It
can capture what you type on your keyword, including passwords, and send it
to the spyware
creator. Here's what Webopedia says about spyware: "Any software that covertly
gathers user information through the user's Internet connection without his
or her
knowledge, usually for advertising purposes. Spyware applications are typically
bundled as a hidden component of freeware or shareware programs that can be
downloaded from the Internet; however, it should be noted that the majority
of shareware and freeware applications do not come with spyware. Once installed,
the
spyware monitors user activity on the Internet and transmits that information
in the background to someone else. Spyware can also gather information about
e-mail
addresses and even passwords and credit card numbers. "Spyware is similar
to a Trojan horse in that users unwittingly install the product when they
install something
else. "Aside from the questions of ethics and privacy, spyware steals from
the user by using the computer's memory resources and also by eating bandwidth
as it sends
information back to the spyware's home base via the user's Internet connection.
Because spyware is using memory and system resources, the applications running
in the
background can lead to system crashes or general system instability."
Adware is "a form of spyware that collects information about the user in order
to display advertisements in the Web browser based on the information it collects
from the user's browsing patterns." Scumware changes how you view websites
you visit. It replaces the actual content of sites with ads from scumware
advertisers, and generates traffic for the scumware advertisers.
To combat all these threats you need more than program.
Anti-virus programs such as Symantec, McAfee and Grisoft are the most popular.
For adware, try Ad-Aware by Lavasoft.
For spyware, try SpyBot and SpyWareBlaster.
Several companies are nw marketing suites that include all of the above. Symantec,
McAfee and ZoneAlarm are a few.
Another resource on computer viruses and hoaxes is the list of the latest
computer hoaxes at this site...