more on 80 per cent of home PCs infected - survey

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Brett Glass <brett () lariat org>
Date: October 29, 2004 10:10:22 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net, Ip <ip () v2 listbox com>
Subject: Re: [IP] more on 80 per cent of home PCs infected - survey

Dave:

As an ISP, I can confirm this percentage, and it's scary. Whenever
I install wireless broadband for a new customer, I scan his or her
system for spyware, and they virtually never come up clean. What's
more disturbing still is that they're often complacent; they don't
realize how easy it is for these miscreants to steal passwords, commit
identity theft, or reduce their PCs to a useless, thrashing wreck.

There are many causes for this: Insecure operating systems are a
serious problem; so are antivirus vendors who catch classic viruses
and worms but turn a blind eye to spyware (and nag users for so much
money that they express their outrage by not renewing their
subscriptions). But the number one problem is the uneducated user
who opens the gate wide and lets the Trojan horse in -- often by
installing sleazeware like Kazaa or by clicking uncritically on
anything they're told to click.

All of my mission-critical machines run BSD UNIX, but I do run
Windows machines as end user workstations; that way, I can run
GUI software that's not available on other platforms and keep
educated about Windows so I can help my users. But interestingly,
my main Windows workstation doesn't run an antivirus program. It
has a simple personal firewall, an ad/script/popup blocker, a
relatively secure browser (Mozilla), and a non-Microsoft e-mail
client. The mail server behind which it sits runs a simple filtering
program that blocks obviously malicious attachments. And that's it;
I'm never infected, and scans of the system always come up clean.

But I fear for my users. I keep trying to warn them: Don't use
Internet Exploder; don't install music piracy software (Legal
services like iTunes are WORTH the dollar you pay per track);
use appropriate software to keep the bad guys out. But they don't
listen -- or the kid who works as a tech at the computer shop
rips out the software I've prompted them to install because he
doesn't understand it or why it's there.

I'm worried that I'm fighting a losing battle.

--Brett Glass

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