A Digital Crime Wave

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Monty Solomon <monty () roscom com>
Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2005 01:18:23 -0400
To: <undisclosed-recipient:;>
Subject: A Digital Crime Wave

April 2005
A Digital Crime Wave

By WALTER S. MOSSBERG

THE WINDOWS COMPUTING PLATFORM is in a genuine crisis. Windows
computers are being attacked, every day, by an international army of
digital criminals who seek to spy on users, turn their own computers
against them and deface, corrupt or destroy their data.

There have long been computer viruses, but until the past couple of
years, they were mainly a nuisance. Now they have grown into a
serious problem-by one account there were 5,000 new Windows viruses
discovered in the first six months of 2004. And the virus plague has
been trumped by a new type of malicious software, spyware, which can
track your activities, bombard you with unwanted ads, even steal your
identity.

Spam has also grown exponentially, clogging e-mail boxes and carrying
with it malicious software. For some people, e-mail has become a
curse.

And that's not all. Every minute of every day, hackers using
automated software scan the Internet looking for computers vulnerable
enough to invade and, in some cases, to surreptitiously take over.
Without your knowledge, they can turn your computer into a "zombie"
machine rigged to help them spread their nasty viruses, spam and
spyware.

So for consumers and small businesses - everyone without a large IT
department to manage security - the Windows computers they use have
become huge burdens instead of helpful tools. If you do get a severe
virus or spyware infestation, you may have to spend hundreds of
dollars and many hours to wipe your hard disk clean and start fresh,
quite possibly losing crucial data in the process.

And prevention is almost as painful as the disease, because the
computer industry has so far come up with only half-baked and
piecemeal solutions to these threats. You have to watch every move
you make online and install a bunch of security programs, which
require monitoring, constant updating and, often, annual fees.

Each of these security programs deals only with a narrow slice of the
problem. Firewalls can keep out invaders, but they don't stop
viruses, spyware or spam. Antivirus programs don't catch most
spyware. Antispyware programs don't stop viruses. And neither stops
spam. For that, you need anti-spam software, which does nothing about
viruses or spyware that invade your system through avenues other than
spam.

You can buy "suites" that combine all these programs, but they are
really just bundles of separate applications of widely varying
quality stuffed into the same box.

It's as if you needed a separate burglar alarm system, each with its
own control panel, password and monthly fee, for every door and
window in your home.

What users need is a simple, all-encompassing security service that
would deal with all these threats with minimal user involvement. For
now, though, you'll have to do it yourself.

So here's my quick guide to Windows security measures. Some of the
products I recommend below are free, but others cost money. I like
free stuff as much as the next guy, but I don't believe security is
an area where price should govern. You don't want to entrust your
computer's security to some unknown software author, or even to a
well-meaning individual or very small outfit that lacks the resources
to keep up with the threats.

...

http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/report-200504.html




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