i've divided the whole thing in pieces so to read further read my next abstarct.computer
security part 1In
today's climate what is the best approach to avoiding getting your PC
infected with
malware? Gizmo lays out some simple steps you can take to
ensure viruses, trojans, keyloggers and other nasties don't take
control of your PC
After spending years testing security products I've learned an important lesson.
Don't get infected by malware.
In other words, put maximum effort into preventing infection rather than detecting and removing infection.
This statement may seem bland and unremarkable but there's more to it than you think.
The traditional way of
adding additional
protection For a long time
I've advocated the best way of protecting your PC was by using multiple
security
layers based on anti-virus, anti-
spyware, anti-trojans, HIPs
and other security
software.
It's still a
sound approach but I've come to believe that for most folks, the cost
is too high and the additional protection afforded too little.
The cost here is
not so much financial though that is an issue, but rather the serious
impact adding many security layers can have on the performance of your
PC.
There is also a
cost in complexity. The more security programs you run the more chance
they will either interfere with each other or with other programs.
Each additional
layers you add increases your protection but by an incremental amount
only. A good anti-virus program may offer 95% protection. Adding a good
anti-spyware utility may increase this to 97%. The addition of an
anti-trojan may take it to 98%.
This is because
today's security products overlap in function much more than they used
to. A modern anti-virus program will detect a lot of spyware while a
modern spyware program will detect some viruses, worms and trojans as
well.
Although the
protection achieved only goes up incrementally with each layer added,
the processing load on your PC will rise more or less in proportion to
the number of layers. So using adding an anti-spyware layer to your
anti-virus layer will double the load on your PC. Adding in an
anti-trojan as well may well triple it.
So folks, while layering is a good thing we are faced here with a law of diminishing returns.
But that's not
the only problem with the traditional layering approach to protection.
If an aggressive malware program is allowed to run on your PC it may
disable all your layers of protection rendering them useless.
I've seen it
happen many times and it is a frightening sight to see all your
security programs icons disappear from the system tray
Thankfully some
security programs resist termination by hostile agents but the majority
don't. And even those that do resist may well prove vulnerable to new,
more advanced termination methods yet to be developed by malware
programmers.
My approach these
days is simple: if you allow malware programs to run on your PC don't
expect your security programs to fully protect you. If you are lucky
they will but with security, you shouldn't rely on luck.
So how do you prevent infection?
Published: January 10, 2008
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