RE: Your opinions on spyware, adware, spam, etc. and dealing with them

From: Prashant Meswani (prashant.meswani_at_ukonline.co.uk)
Date: 06/29/05

  • Next message: Greg Jones: "Re: Restricting Incoming Email in Exchange by From Address" 
    To: "'Joe George'" <j.george@conservation.org>, <security-basics@securityfocus.com>
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2005 21:07:00 +0100

    Hi Joe,

    What I am about to say is not an attack on your comments, so I hope that it
    isn't taken that way.

    Would you want someone to hack / crack into your network and steal all or
    data, or would you feel safer knowing that your data is safe? Is it ethical
    for a hacker / cracker to break into your network and steal your data with
    your knowledge? You could cite the first amendment of the American
    Constitution, but how far does that go in terms of overseas protection?

    How far does one have to go to protect ones network? There is no hard or
    fast rule on this from what I understand. Part of the answer, I believe, is
    to educate staff and to ensure that the Security policy IS enforced.

    There is an appliance called Bluecoat (which is not an intentional plug as I
    don't work for them) that when configured correctly, prompts the user (who
    will have their systems configured to point to it for Internet access) to
    accept the AUP before they use the internet, and if they breach it, a
    notification is sent to their superiors. The staff will get a warning from
    their superiors. In terms of how to stop threats....it's down to education
    and enforcement as well as having the right kit. To protect against external
    initiated intrusion, that is purely down to firewall policies as well as
    having an IDS (which is, depending on your definition, correctly configured)
    installed on your network at every entry point. Having network based Virus
    and IDS scanning devices should be crucial to defending against many threats
    (I use many as some threats are physical and social based).

    I know what I have said doesn't make complete sense and doesn't go far to
    answering your question thoroughly, but I hope that someone can either
    correct me or extend on what I have mentioned above.

    Regards,

     

    Prashant Meswani, CEH

     

    The opinions expressed in this email are those of my own and does not
    represent those of any organisation or associations to which I belong to
    unless stated otherwise.

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Joe George [mailto:j.george@conservation.org]
    Sent: 29 June 2005 16:50
    To: security-basics@securityfocus.com
    Subject: Your opinions on spyware, adware, spam, etc. and dealing with them

    Dear all,

    It has been very informative and helpful hearing your opinions. I'd
    like to ask you all what are your thoughts on the various anti-security
    threat software that is available out there? I've read many articles
    and tried out many such as spam filters (Spam assassin, Postini
    products, Brightmail) anti-spyware apps like Xoftspy, Spybot,
    MS-antispyware, Ad-aware, along with a myriad of others. Some indeed
    work better than others, and it is clear that it is necessary to use
    more than one in a lot of cases. It seems though, that malware evolves
    with the software used to remove it. At one point, I felt I saw a light
    at the end of the tunnel.

    Implementing a security policy, restricting local admin access in
    Windows environments along with implementing IDS, managed anti-virus
    software, blacklists, and so forth work very well, but doesn't mean
    intrusion can't take place. Do you all feel it is a never-ending
    battle? What do you all feel is the next step in combatting MalWare?
    How do you all feel about Federal authorities enacting legislation?
    What do you think are the moral and ethical implications? I have had
    these questions on my mind awhile, !
     and I just wanted to get your thoughts.

    Thank you in advance for your input!

    Best wishes,

    Joe

  • Next message: Greg Jones: "Re: Restricting Incoming Email in Exchange by From Address"

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