I read this article last week and thought it was quite an impressive piece of advertisement and propaganda by Symantec. This quote especially was sweet:
An antivirus program is not enough, said Symantec. Users need a security solution that combines antivirus, firewall and intrusion detection capabilities.
The proper thing to say would’ve been to have every copy of Windows updated with all the security patches from Microsoft. Or use another operating system of course, but that would be defeatist since I don’t think Symantec products run on any other operating system apart from Windows.
Another reason is the widespread use of pirated software by local PC users, said the Symantec survey.
It said copies of pirated software sometimes contained trojans and other hidden malicious programs, and these are surrepticiously planted into computer systems when users installed the software.
Rest assured, you don’t even need to get to the stage of installing pirated software as a computer with an unpatched Windows can easily get those just by connecting to the internet. However, home routers nowadays do quite a decent job in protecting the computer(s) plugged into it.
As for the part on zombie machines, I might be wrong on this, but I believe it can be greatly reduced if the ISP blocks off the common ports used such as port 25, 80 and allow users to unblock it if they know what they’re doing. This seems to be a common practice among ISPs in Australia.
PC users are also advised not to view, open or execute any e-mail attachment unless it is expected or its purpose known to the recipient.
I’m not going to find fault with that. :D
I’ve stopped using Symantec security software since a few years back as every new version that got released increased the bloat and resource usage to a ridiculous level.
Ah, it’s been awhile since I wrote something..