A trustworthy source?

John Hillman looks at some the weekend’s big antivirus news stories and reflects on what they say about public attitudes to online safety

An article in last week’s Guardian by Bobbie Johnson highlights the growing problem faced by Internet users without adequate security software.

Although many people believe that avoiding dodgy websites and not downloading programmes from unknown sources is enough to prevent Malware infection, the fact that criminals are now using ad space on respectable websites like the New York Times, in order to lure unsuspecting victims, should serve as a real wake up call.

Malvertising is such a growing problem that it is leading to calls, from a across the technology industry, for more to be done by all relevant organisations to fight the practice. Some ads are so dangerous that they are capable of delivering their malicious payload simply when a person scrolls over an ad.

Coming on the back of more concerns over the growth of Spamware Affiliates in Russia, who have developed techniques that use Web 2.0 and blog forums to target spam traffic, the outlook for cybercrime is one of increasing sophistication and continuous growth.

The fact is that until a comprehensive global strategy is agreed to combat these problems, individuals remain vulnerable to attack even when engaged in the most innocent of online activities. This is simply because, by choosing not to install anti-virus protection on their PCs, they leave themselves open to attack.
Despite the endless efforts of companies, such as McAfee, to raise awareness about this issue, public apathy and a mistaken belief that Malware is only present on dubious websites, remains one of the cybercriminal’s greatest assets.

————————————

Image Credit: scriptingnews