Dealing with Spyware and Malware
I am responsible for keeping 250 computers up and running every day.
A few years back I had to get really focused on Internet security to deal with rising problems of Viruses, Spyware and Malware affecting my clients.
I went out of my way to educate my clients/users about e-mails with attachments and not clicking yes to suspect browser plug-ins etc.
I have enjoyed a good year without any major problems of that front. Until today.
A user gave his brand new laptop to his spouse to use on the Internet for a short time. Now the laptop is compromised with Malware
The above balloon popup up box is fake by the way, if you see one on your laptop don’t click it.
Well I suppose I get to test my chops battling against it, trying to rescue the PC.
The lesson to learn is, no matter what anti-virus you use or what firewall you are behind. If you have a willing participant (in this case a human) who will click yes, when they really should click no. Bad things are bound to happen.
This was on a fully patched Windows XP Pro SP2 / IE 7 build. Less than a week old.
I suppose I should give a shout out to Windows Vista if this laptop was running it (it wasn’t) things might have not been so bad.
Office2007 User Interface
July 19th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Well, the human factor remains the weak link in security.
But it’s not so bad. Just an example. I use Agnitum Outpost Security Suite on my desktop (XP SP2 too). It’s an all-in-one product (effective firewall, antivirus engine, anti-spyware, anti-banner, anti-spam plugins). So… after teaching firewall you can switch it to maximum security, when it blocks all unknown applications. And anti-spyware and anti-spam filters are very good - I’ve got no one of that after installing Outpost. Summarizing… Software can help you to fight the human factor.
July 20th, 2007 at 7:56 am
I agree if you cant trust the user to do the right thing you need another layer of security in the way.
I use http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html to prevent browser hi-jacks.
A few years back i would install this by default, I guess I need to make sure It goes on any XP class desktop as that extra layer.
Thanks for your comment Dael.
July 20th, 2007 at 11:30 am
Colin:
Not to be smug, but the best way to _not_ have to deal with trojans and spyware is to run Linux
July 20th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Agreed AG
Windows is a house of cards, I really need to get around to building a test Windows Vista machine (fully patched) and trashing it on the internet. It might make a fun screencast.
Colin