[IP] 80 per cent of home PCs infected - survey
Begin forwarded message:
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: October 26, 2004 8:45:16 PM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] 80 per cent of home PCs infected - survey
Reply-To: dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Original URL:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/26/pc_petri_dish_city/
80 per cent of home PCs infected - survey
By Thomas C Greene (thomas.greene at theregister.co.uk)
Published Tuesday 26th October 2004 19:59 GMT
The Internet is well on its way to becoming one vast bot net, a survey
(http://www.staysafeonline.info/news/safety_study_v04.pdf) by AOL and
the National Cyber Security Alliance suggests.
Researchers interviewed, and examined the computers of, 329 volunteers.
They found that nearly all Windows PCs are infected with some form of
malware, and that a majority of users are unaware of the simplest
security basics, such as the difference between anti-virus software and
a firewall, for instance.
Most users had antivirus software installed, presumably because it's
usually preloaded on OEM boxes, but two thirds had not bothered to
update their virus siggies in the preceding week. One poor victim had
92 viruses on their PC, and another an incredible 1,059 spyware/adware
progies.
Two thirds of users had no firewall or packet filter, and 14 per cent
of those who had them had misconfigured them. And only nine per cent
had any sort of parental controls in place.
Half of wireless users employed MAC filtering to prevent connection
freeloading, while 60 per cent used WEP to encrypt their signals.
Nevertheless, almost three quarters of those surveyed reported
believing that their PC is very secure or moderately secure. Somehow,
the message isn't getting through. Unless, of course, the message that
is getting through is the Microsoft Trustworthy Computing message, and
it's led people to overconfidence.
The National Cyber Security Alliance (http://www.staysafeonline.info/)
says that users need more education, and encouragement to take more
responsibility for their own cyber security, and, by extension, the
collective security of the Net.
But this seems to be blaming the victim. They might perhaps just
deserve better software.
Archives at: <http://Wireless.Com/Dewayne-Net>
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>
-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as roessler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To manage your subscription, go to
http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip
Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/