Summary of Symantec's Internet Threat Report

[NeonWizard]

Recently Symantec released their latest Symantec Internet Security Threat Report, and it is a document that all security pros ought to read. It's free (although you do have to register to get it), it's detailed, and it's full of data, information, and even some knowledge. Let's take a look at some of the more interesting data points in the document and see what we can gather from those.

Given that we have a new virus every hour, an army of bots, popular software increasingly used as an attack vector, and the increasing involvement of organized crime in security attacks, then it's no surprise that the time we have to prepare for each new attack is small and getting smaller.

Six days between vulnerability and exploit. Who can prepare for that? How many vulnerablities are you watching? How many can you, or your team, watch? Automation is an answer - for instance, I was heartened to learn that a major anti-virus vendor now has its software default to checking for updates every four hours (just a few years ago, it checked every week) - but it's only one answer. I write a lot about ways to get your users - and the bean counters - involved in security. Now, more than ever, we're going to have to redouble those efforts.

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[andsome]

What an excellent posting this is. I have sent this page to my daughter. I am banging my head against a brick wall. I have put Norton AV into her new laptop, which fortunately updates automatically. I have also put on Adadware. but the last time I went to visit her last week it had not been updated or even run, apart from the first scan that I did when I put it onto the machine. She thinks that she knows it all having used a computer for several years in her job, when she was a fund raiser at Oxfam. I have tried to convince her that although she did not have to worry about threats, Oxfam would have been paying some else to do so, checking the main frame at least on a daily basis. None of this sinks in with her, she seems to think that I am paranoid.

[-pops-]

Important information here which could have consequences on us all.

Have you considered using a title with a bigger impact to get everyone to read it?

Something like "Everyone Please Read This"

[cd108]

Unfortunatley the people who read and post on these forums are probably about as protected as a home user can be. Manafacteres of "internet ready" P.C.s should include that peice of journalism in the box in BIG EASY TO READ script.