Can malware be beaten?

[rpm]

Can malware be beaten?

As the companies that create anti-malware and virus products develop solutions to combat the malware scourge, so the internet bandits that create them get one better

 

[Sapphiron]

Beating malware is simple. Get rid of users.

 

[Moederloos]

what is this "virus" and malware of which he speaks? I never encounter those things.

 

[apogeeza]

Can malware be beaten?

Yes.
Linux.

 

[Dixie]

Wow! One huge Norton (spit) punt!

What Moederloos said...

 

[Antonf]

Why an't MyBB have a separate page for advertorials?

 

[rurapente]

Yes.
Linux.

Heh. While slightly less prone, Linux is relatively overlooked at this stage since most users run Windows, in particular every-day, transactional people in the street. Switch them all over to Linux and I"m pretty confident Malware for it will be available soon thereafter. Supply vs Demand

 

[hawker]

Yea. Use Linux.

 

[Kloofvreter]

As long as there are companies using any Symantec product, especially Symantec Endpoint Protection malware will never be beaten. SEP is to Symantec what Vista is to Microsoft.

 

[MrXSpekta]

The biggest virus/malware for a computer is the user behind the keyboard and screen.

And I can only laugh my arse of at some of the members here! Clueless bunch indeed.

Anyways, nice article!

 

[Nutty Grandad]

The biggest culprits in creating malware, viruses etc are the anti-virus software developers themselves!

How else can they ensure that their products are sold on a continuous basis?

so...
create a virus, create the detection tool, publish the virus and spread it around to the bandits to distribute and bang...more people need to buy their software!

Solution? Use Linux as an operating system well for the mean time anyway

 

[rapidblue]

Heh. While slightly less prone, Linux is relatively overlooked at this stage since most users run Windows, in particular every-day, transactional people in the street. Switch them all over to Linux and I"m pretty confident Malware for it will be available soon thereafter. Supply vs Demand

Exactly why I don't want everyone getting a Mac. Prefer it to be a niche market

 

[Kloofvreter]

The biggest culprits in creating malware, viruses etc are the anti-virus software developers themselves!

How else can they ensure that their products are sold on a continuous basis?

so...
create a virus, create the detection tool, publish the virus and spread it around to the bandits to distribute and bang...more people need to buy their software!

Solution? Use Linux as an operating system well for the mean time anyway

Oh no not more conspiracy theories please. And for most, Linux is simply not a corporate solution.

 

[Kloofvreter]

Heh. While slightly less prone, Linux is relatively overlooked at this stage since most users run Windows, in particular every-day, transactional people in the street. Switch them all over to Linux and I"m pretty confident Malware for it will be available soon thereafter. Supply vs Demand

+1

 

[gregmcc]

The biggest culprits in creating malware, viruses etc are the anti-virus software developers themselves!

Oh man - what a pile of BS!

 

[The_Unbeliever]

One simple solution - enforce a default-deny policy on Windows.

Unfortunately, this will cause more problems due to the way Windows is designed.

 

[PeterCH]

Beating malware is simple. Get rid of users.

Funny you don't get malware on Mac OSX, Linux or Solaris, it's only Windows. And before you start screaming about security through obscurity - Mac OS 9 had over 80 viruses and its marketshare was much less than the 5% of Mac OSX. (Yes you'll find a trojan or two for those OS'es, but no worms or viruses or rootkits).

White list all software and prevent running of other software I guess.
Have the OS in ROM?
Run all apps in low privilege?

 

[PeterCH]

One simple solution - enforce a default-deny policy on Windows.

Unfortunately, this will cause more problems due to the way Windows is designed.

Isn't it ironic that some of the richest people in the world got to be so rich on Windows, an OS so insecure that it's responsible for most of these malware infections and spam/malware zombie botnets.

 

[Linouser]

Funny you don't get malware on Mac OSX, Linux or Solaris, it's only Windows. And before you start screaming about security through obscurity - Mac OS 9 had over 80 viruses and its marketshare was much less than the 5% of Mac OSX. (Yes you'll find a trojan or two for those OS'es, but no worms or viruses or rootkits).

White list all software and prevent running of other software I guess.
Have the OS in ROM?
Run all apps in low privilege?

Oh please you love trolling any thread with any regard to running down Microsoft Windows. If Windows was as bad as some many people make it out to be; it would not be as popular.

Windows might not be the best but hell it actually works and accomplishes tasks simply, with out editing config files etc.

 

[rurapente]

have you noticed how rally cars dont have the interior of a 7 series BMW? why? Cause they're built for one purpose. Not many.

Windows has to be built for different purposes, from both power to entry-level "n00b" users. Hence it is very lenient in its lockdown on initial install, and its ability to be configured as low level as Linux. It needs to be a 7 series. Something you can cruise in, something you can speed in, something you can put into sports mode and really get going. The problem with that is you have a little bit of each world, not a rally car.

As Linux OSs become more and more mainstream and more n00b-oriented they too will require much work into ensuring they balance between ease-of-use and inherent security and operational protection. Maybe they have the upper hand from learning on how windows is vulnerable.

Either way, malware is malware is malware. Nothing in its name suggests it should be biased to any OS. the fact that it is is maths, i.e which OS is most widely used. Nothing more.