Re: Buy a PC at Best Buy today and plug it in - how long till I get a virus?

From: Robert Moir (bofh_at_mvps.org)
Date: 05/03/04 

Date: Mon, 3 May 2004 20:43:31 +0100

BeamGuy wrote:
>> The trouble is, far too many people see security as someone else's
>> problem. They won't buy security software for their PC (or invest
>> the time to find and learn the free solutions), and they won't pay
>> extra for features that they don't understand and provide no
>> tangible benefit to them; which usually means a desktop icon to play
>> with.
>
> When I get in my car and drive down the road there are certain safety
> standards that I must maintain. I don't know about the UK, but in
> most states here my car must pass a yearly inspection to make sure
> that it is not a danger to myself or others on the road. If I buy a
> car in the UK and ship it back a big challenge can be to prove it is
> safe to drive here, even if it is commonly thought that safety is
> more of a priority there than here.

I would like to see some kind of competence tests for users and their
machines but wouldn't this be a logistical nightmare to maintain?

> I was glad to see a few weeks back that microsoft as well as a few
> other companies actually wrote a letter admitting that some
> legislative action is required to gaurd the safety of the internet.
> I'm quite sure that they and likely you have known what the problems
> were long before it reached my conciousness - and while I myself have
> a hardware firewall, a software firewall, an uptodate virus program
> and take other security precautions I would be willing to vote with
> the feet of several other ISP subscribers who I advise.

Yep. Don't doubt it and I agree with you. BUT... we're the exception, not
the rule. Far too many people are too apathetic or think they do understand
the issues and will "vote with their pocketbook" to remain on the cheap 'no
protection' deal from their current ISP in the belief that their 2 year old
unpatched version of Zone Alarm will save them.

> That is if I
> knew of any that provided even the most rudimentry protection for
> their customers. I would be happy with even half the level of support
> that my corporate IT department (who are not so swift) give me. But
> I have seen the inside of many large companies, and the IT
> departments of those companies are not even going to make the
> internet a safe place to hang out either.

Well I can safely say that where I work, we've made the Internet a safe
place for our users to 'hang out'. It does require an investment of time and
money that can be hard to prise out of the board's hands however, and
remember while the IT manager is explaining to the CEO why the CEO can't
find an "Any" key on their keyboard to press when the nice program asks them
to, the IT manager isn't doing real work.

> You are right - ISPs are not going to change unless someone makes
> them. And it is becoming very clear that they have to do it -
> microsoft cannot by itself make the internet a safe place to be. My
> guess is eventually the ISPs will be made to do it and that most of
> the large switches that connect me to the internet can be improved
> through firmware programming, but maybe some will require or new
> hardware. What company should I buy stock in?

If I knew that, i'd be off buying some for myself!

> While we in america cannot pass laws that tell ISPs in North Korea
> what to do, we can pass laws that block traffic from ISPs in North
> Korea that do not provide adequate protections for our users. I don't
> remember the last time that I wanted to share access to my hard drive
> with someone in North Korea anyway.

True, but its entirely possible that your antivirus software updates came
from places just like that around the world as many big players in that
business maintain offices world-wide to allow for 24 hour reaction to
threats. I think that laws to ensure that each ISP protects the world from
the ISP's own users would be enough to be starting with.

Believe me, I was perfectly serious when I said the idiot up the street from
you was at least as much of a threat as places like North Korea.. And this
isn't a comment on America either, the idiot up the street from ME here in
the UK is a threat too. And while I'm not one for bible quotes normally, the
comment about attending to the beam in one's own eye before attending to the
mote in your neighbour's eye seems very relevant to me in cases like this. 

-- 
-- 
Rob Moir, Microsoft MVP for servers & security
Website - http://www.robertmoir.co.uk
Virtual PC 2004 FAQ - http://www.robertmoir.co.uk/win/VirtualPC2004FAQ.html
Kazaa - Software update services for your Viruses and Spyware.

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