I received an email from Trusteer noting that anti-virus detection rates for the latest Zeus variant are very low. This analysis shows that at the time of writing only Panda, among the major anti-virus products, picks it up. Does this mean we should all switch to Panda? No, because next time it will be one of the others that works, or none of them will work. You can only sympathise with users who imagine they are protected from malware because they have security software installed which tells them so.
The solution? Well, white-listing, visiting only trusted web sites, not opening attachments, keeping your OS fully patched, and so on. None of them perfect.
Alternatively, a new model of computing. One of the attractions of locked-in platforms like Apple’s iPhone and iPad is that they are harder to infect. Google’s forthcoming Chrome OS is even better designed from a security perspective. I am surprised that this aspect of cloud+device computing does not get more attention.
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Very good points Tim – although “white listing” does take us a little to close to Saudi Arabia’s computing model for my liking.
I fear that the iPad will not long be safe, there will be a shortened URL via Tweetdeck harbouring obfuscated Java nastiness coming soon…
AdrianB
Or using Mac OS X or Ubuntu.