At the end of each year threats of major virus attacks emerge and 2000 has been no different. According to experts, future viruses will no longer be dependent on users opening attachments or e-mail for them to begin inflicting damage. Instead, they will be activated the instant users check their inbox for new correspondence.
Another doom prophecy is that cluster viruses will spawn viruses inside a system to attack various sectors and thwart scanning software. In addition, there are already cases of rogue Web sites that steal files or passwords from computers, as well as the first viruses for Palm PDAs.
"In 2001 cyber terrorism will change into another, more sinister camouflage outfit, perhaps not in appearance but most definitely in intent," comments Brett Myroff, CEO of eSafe Technologies SA.
"Think about it, viruses used to take months or years to spread, but current strains circle the globe in minutes via e-mail. What is more, the homogeneity of the computing world - with Microsoft`s Windows, Word, and Outlook everywhere - makes it easy for viruses to infect millions of machines in one swoop," he adds.
How-to columns often taut the necessity of weekly virus table downloads, but that according to Myroff is not the way to fight this new breed of cyber vandals and viruses. "The advice of anti-virus vendors during the Love Bug attack was `update your anti-virus tables every other hour and hope for the best`. The `best` did not prevent global losses reportedly in excess of $10 billion - and that from a single piece of malicious code."
Myroff proposes that traditional anti-virus vendors have had their day and that the new technology used by cyber criminal will call for complete content protection.
"It is a case of reactive versus proactive, software filters are currently available that allow users to automatically block any form of malicious coding before it even enters the system, whether it is trying to gain access via e-mail or through the Internet," explains Myroff.
Users should opt for a content protection solution that constantly scans files, alerting the user to any virus/vandal-like behaviour. Should any known or unknown virus be detected, it is captured and the same goes for vandals and Trojans that gain access through hostile Java, Active X applications and VB Scripts, inappropriate content, data exposure and resource misuse.
"Any person with a bit of programming knowledge can create a virus, and I think the time has come for us to rethink whether we can actually afford the downtime that even a simple virus can cause," concludes Myroff.
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