Security still a concern in 2008

A poll recently published by Sophos found that 70% of those surveyed believe 2008 will be just as bad as or worse for IT security than 2007.

Following the first Patch Tuesday of 2008, Brett Myroff, CEO of Sophos distributor Netxactics, advises companies to keep up-to-date with the latest Microsoft security patches. They should consider the benefits of network access control (NAC) in light of the announcement of new security flaws affecting Windows, he adds.

"Microsoft has issued two new bulletins (one of them described as 'critical') about security vulnerabilities in its software. The vulnerabilities - the first announced by Microsoft so far this year - cover different versions of the Windows operating system, including Windows XP and Vista," he says.

"The more serious of the bulletins addresses a Windows TCP/IP vulnerability that could allow a remote code execution, giving an attacker complete control of the system with no user intervention."

This week's line-up includes the Troj/KeybRant-A Trojan, which is affecting the Windows platform, and sends the following message to all computers in the workgroup: "The network is infected by poisonous worm by mr.loser and my poisoned blood will fill the whole world."

Myroff states that Troj/Mbroot-A is also making the rounds. It spreads via Web downloads and also affects the Windows OS. It allows others to access the computer and downloads code from the Internet.

"Sophos' anti-virus products include Behavioural Genotype protection, which can proactively guard against new threats without requiring an update," he adds. "Sophos customers have, for example, been protected against Troj/Mbroot-A (detected as Mal/Sinowa-A) since version 4.25."

Furthermore, Troj/Dropper-SZ and Troj/KillDis-L, also Trojans for the Windows platform, have been identified this week, according to Myroff. "Also cause for concern is the Troj/Trinity-C Trojan, again affecting Windows users," he warns.

"On the patch front, however, 2008 is likely to be a similar story to 2007, with a stream of vulnerabilities coming to light that home users and businesses need to protect themselves against. Leaving your computers unpatched means you are risking becoming the victim of a hacker attack," Myroff says.

"NAC can certainly go a long way to help organisations enforce security policies, ensuring any non-compliant device is locked down and unable to jeopardise the network."