Secure networks by fighting `click and open` syndrome

A global survey of senior executives has revealed that security is the top concern for corporate networks. The report, produced by AT&T in cooperation with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), says 78% of corporate executives view security as the single most important attribute of corporate networks.

While the survey canvassed senior executives from Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific, the situation is much the same in SA, says Andrew Wilson, chief security architect at business systems solutions specialist, DVT.

"People are the biggest vulnerability of all. An astonishing 78% of the respondents admitted to having opened an e-mail attachment from an unknown person in the last year. Mistakes like this can have a crippling effect on a company`s IT infrastructure, and therefore, on its ability to conduct business."

Viruses, able to bring down e-mail systems and corporate networks in minutes, are being distributed globally via e-mail in a matter of hours.

The factor most responsible for this is, according to Wilson, "the click and open mentality of end-users and the use of e-mail as a file transferring tool". E-mail is a communication tool and was not designed for the purpose of transferring files and as such "is technically an inefficient means of doing so as it wastes valuable bandwidth resources; it is also a hazardous method of transferring files as it has enabled the spread of malicious viruses and code", says Wilson.

Countless files are sent via e-mail on a daily basis. The problem, according to Wilson, arises because "users have only limited options when it comes to dealing with e-mail attachments - they can `open` or `save` them. In an attempt to make the PC age as user-friendly as possible Microsoft introduced the term `open` and in so doing inadvertently contributed largely to the spread of viruses and malicious code. The term `open` actually translates to either `edit` or `execute`. The moment a user clicks `open` on an attachment containing an executable, the user effectively hands over full control of their PC to the attachment and potentially to a hacker."

The ease with which a program can be written that grabs all the documents on your PC, and mails them back to a saboteur is frightening, especially for a skilled developer. To install such a program, the hacker simply has to trick the user into "opening" the attachment; once this has been accomplished, the hacker has the same level of access to the PC as the user. "Should this PC have access to a network, the hacker will have that same access to the network. The infected e-mail will bypass all intrusion detection systems and anti-virus systems because its patterns will not be known to these systems," says Wilson.

Financial, productivity and reputation losses resulting from the "click and open syndrome" are already tremendous. Wilson stresses that "it is critical for companies to address this syndrome rapidly and holistically". Banning e-mail is simply impractical; blocking certain attachments is not effective, as a virus can be transferred in zip files and macros and user awareness, while important, is not reliable.

"Security is a process, so instituting a variety of solutions is the route to take: introduction of a documentation management system or a file transfer system combined with intrusion detection, user awareness, an attachment approval process and containment structures will negate the threat posed by the `click and open` syndrome and add an important layer to a company`s security profile," Wilson concludes.