Blackbird
Built for Speed
Premium
join:2005-01-14
Fort Wayne, IN
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to Big Boss
Re: Is the spyware/malware problem as bad as it once was ?
People as a whole haven't changed... both users and hackers. Which means the malware problem as a whole hasn't changed all that much, except perhaps in details and in one key area.
Where there have been noteworthy improvements in certain default security settings or capabilities in some out-of-box software or OS, there have been subtle changes in what people now do while online (torrents, social-network sites, etc) that can negate those security gains. Too many folks still click-through every warning barrier software designers can erect, and too many folks still fail to keep things updated/patched - but they still offer "reasons" why they persist in these habits. In the end, many of them still holler for help when the inevitable occurs. User ignorance and stubborness still abound.
Unpatched holes continue to be discovered and exploited... sometimes in software families dating back many years. Patches continue to be issued, occasionally falling short of being as comprehensive as folks might wish. Technology and software have evolved in both the protection camp and in the attacker camp, but the protectors are still playing catch-up to the attackers.
In some ways, malware's been a lot like grafitti or other gratuitous vandalism - there are always folks who do it, just because they can. That hasn't changed. However, one significant thing that has changed is that a lot of money is now moving around under the table due to malware... the criminal elements have gotten involved in a big, organized way by harnessing the compu-power of bot armies and phish farms. The result is organized financing of ever-nastier attacking technology and methods, and I believe this is taking a growing toll on the computer-using universe. The signs of that are littered throughout forums like this...
--
If God wanted us to work with electrons, He'd make them big enough to see... |
