Spyware and spam turning home users off the Net

[BionicJohn]

Spyware, spam turning home users off the Net

Survey says: Because of spam, spyware and related problems, about 44 percent of home computer users use email and the Web less today than they did one year ago.

No surprise, but not acceptable.

Iechyd da! John
Glannau Mersi, Lloegr.

 

[Xemus]

Agreed. That's letting the bad guys win. There are ways to stay safe, and not have to deal with the stuff that's coming out, however a large percentage of people simply consider themselves computer illiterate and refuse to do the maintenence required to keep their systems running.

http://www.closedsocket.com

 

[sggaunt]

BigJohn I could forsee this as well.
IMHO the problem is not helped by most AV companies policy of rolling licences.
The industry as a whole should be making it as easy as possible for users to detect and stop the manace. Trying to make money out of AV means that there are lots of unprotected Computers passing on Malware.

Steve
Time for a new sig a bit of DNA I think will scan books and get back to you.

 

[eyec]

from the amount of traffic on this forum and my inbox, i am not seeing what the survey says.

 

[carrr]

I think if there's much substance to the author's assertion, it's more likely due to the fact that the dimished time spent online is due to down time from having gummed up their machines, rather than fear of malwares, etc.

Tired of waiting for an answer? Try asking better questions. See: faq222-2244

 

[torturedmind]

i agree with sir carr. generally, most home users don't know anything about spywares/adwares. they just click here, click there, after a while, they get annoyed, then decide to sign off and will try later.

kilroy
philippines

"If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get one million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside."

 

[orypecos]

If they only knew that by downloading zonealarm and other free anti malware programs and leaving there email on the net with yahoo with html turned off, they would avoid 99% of the problems with little cost!

 

[tazuk]

As orypecos points out, the main issue seems to be one of end-user education and awareness. This is not just limited to the non-technically minded - my brother-in-law (a qualified electronics engineer, and the Technical Director for his employer with more years in IT than me) has only just been convinced to start running AV software on his home pc despite his view that it impacts performance; it took 3 viruses and a trojan to convince him to change this attitude.
I've seen suggestions on various forums that ISPs be required to perform certain basic checks on their customers to ensure they are running a minimum level of security before going online. IMO I doubt this would work given the wide variety of security tools and configurations available.
I do feel however that certain large retailers, particularly those who aim squarely at the non-technically proficient market by advertising "internet ready" equipment should take more of a lead in educating their customers. I suspect that retailers of this type have a vested interest in not doing so, given the rates they charge to disinfect machines.
Having spent 3 years repeatedly educating my end-users (family and friends) about free security tools and the various threats that exist I now have a simple (but brutal) policy: if they've failed to follow my basic guidelines I refuse to look at any problems and simply advise them to take the machine to a suitable store who will repair it and charge them for the privilege.

TazUk

Blue-screening PCs since 1998

 

[carrr]

Tough love!

Tired of waiting for an answer? Try asking better questions. See: faq222-2244

 

[orypecos]

I hadn't used a virus program for years, and got a free Norton virus for 90 days with something else I bought. I updated on the web and scanned for viruses. NONE, nada! If you don't download your email and turn off html then you don't even have to have anti virus program!

 

[aquias]

Well, don't take this wrong, but that is blatantly untrue. I'm not certain how you managed it but you were just lucky. Speaking from past experience if I leave my system attached to the web (Via cable broadband), I'll receive at least two alerts a day about a virus being caught coming into my system.

Because you are not surfing the web actively does not protect you from this. Now, if you have a firewall it helps to filter out the random crap that people spam to all "open" ports, but I wouldn't suggest this configuration or attempt to say that this is a safe way to be connected to the internet.

 

[orypecos]

Even with Zonealarm, Adaware and Spyware Blaster you are thinking that a virus can get to my system even if I never download any of my emails or anything else?

 

[eyec]

if you have an internet connection, then yes a virus and hacker can get to you.

 

[aquias]

Zonealarm, Adaware, and Spyware Blaster don't do anything to prevent a virus from entering your system. They'll keep you quite nicely protected vs spyware.

The sad truth of the internet is, is that if you have a connection to the internet, you're open to an attack. And yes, I don't know why people do it, but some people will run random port scans across a subnet to find an open machine and dump whatever they want to it. It's what makes me such a security "anal-retentive" pain (that is what the facility administrator calls me here).

 

[tazuk]

Indeed.
My NAV2004 picked up (and removed) a virus infection pushed from a popup window on the internet last Thursday. It got through despite running a router with NATs SPI firewall, ZA Pro, SpywareBlaster, Spybot, Adaware and a very locked down W2K install (including all security patches), using Firefox rather than IE.

TazUk

Blue-screening PCs since 1998

 

[BFOJ]

I'm finding that more and more individuals that are not all that computer literate are getting more and more savvy about malware and the like and the ones that aren't whom I support are getting educated by me and others that provide technical support. I'm seeing an increase in their Internet activity as they become more aware of the value of what's available and taking the necessary precautions like keeping their anti-spyware/adware/virus software up-to-date and run on a regular basis. Of course I can only speak for my limited local experience, not the population in general.

 

[aquias]

It really falls to anyone that understands the dangers and ways to prevent infection to educate everyone else. Not only to help them stay safe and utilize the web more effectively but for everyone's safety.

BCastner made a comment once that I laughed at, at first, but agree with wholeheartedly on second thought.

(Paraphrased because I don't recall exactly how he termed it) "If you don't have a firewall/anti virus I don't want to share the internet with you."

It is true, a lot of the current propigation of malware isn't just from people deliberately adding it to their sites, it is from machines reissuing it out to the rest of us on the web.