English 111 Assignment: Phase 3 Discussion Board

English 111: Week (3) Assignment: Phase 3 Discussion Board 7/24/10 Michael Ohl 11499998 Colorado Technical University

English 111 Assignment: Phase 3 Discussion Board

For the past 18 years a new global community has been slowly building, the internet changed the world making communications across the globe possible. However with this new community came new sets of problems, the foremost being a large spread of malware, or malicious software. Malware is a problem to anyone using a computer because while there are so many different forms of malware all of them represent the same thing, a threat to your security and privacy. Today security companies such as Symantec, McAfee, and Panda struggle to keep up with the tide of new malware flooding the internet in what seems to be an ever losing battle, as malware becomes not just anarchy but a thriving business model and a tool of criminals of all sorts. The word Malware is short for malicious software, and is a general term used to describe all of the viruses, worms, spyware, and pretty much anything that is specifically designed to cause harm to your PC or steal your information ("Whats the difference," 2010). This one statement shows the diversity of the problem, not only is malware on the rise it also is evolving rapidly. Gone are the days of worrying that a floppy disk may infect you with the latest virus on the market. The types of malware have changed as well as the growth in numbers and delivery methods. The types of malware can now include the virus, worm, trojan, spyware, adware, scareware, rootkit, and several other types of attacks. This is all demonstrating that the people behind malware are getting more diverse with their increased releases. Malware infections have been slowly growing over the years, up until within the past several years where the infection rate has exponentially grown. Fran Howarth (2008) wrote, there were 564 unique samples of malware in existence in 1985 rising steadily to 972,606 in 2006. But, in 2007 alone, there was a jump in the number of samples seen of 565% to reach almost 5.5 million. This is a trend that is still growing today and there is no clear end in sight.

English 111 Assignment: Phase 3 Discussion Board

With the release of new malware every day and even multiple variations of the same infection the battle to keep a secure computer is getting more difficult. Howarth continues explaining that those behind malware are changing, going from the individual hacker to vast criminal organizations that turn a profit from all these attacks. Panda Security ("PandaLabs quarterly report," 2010) one of the worlds leading anti-virus companies, put out that cyber-criminals have taken things even further recently by selling tools to even the non-technical to allow them to execute malware attacks making this even easier than it has ever been to use malware for personal gain. One of the scariest uses for these new emerging trends is identity theft, with a few lines of code and a clever delivery method someone across the world from you can use your information to purchase products with a credit card in your name that never gets paid off and it is getting harder and harder to catch the culprits. These new types of criminals A common assumption is that a good anti-virus application will keep a computer 100% same from infection, however this assumption is flawed. In a recent study done by NSS Labs (Kirk, 2010), a company that performs independent security software testing, it was found that often times an infected webpage with the latest strain of malware can take up to 2 days to be blocked by the leading security companies. With even a short time of 48 hours prior to your security software blocking a new web based threat your system can become compromise and damage can be done. There can be as many as 50,000 new infections circulating the internet daily, the numbers are just proving difficult to keep up with. In trying to combat the rising tide of malware that comes upon us daily there are two strategies which should really be employed by all users of computers. One of the newer methods to protect you against infection is using security software that has behavioral-based scanning.

English 111 Assignment: Phase 3 Discussion Board

This is a type of security software which unlike the standard anti-virus application it doesnt rely mainly on checking for known bad code inside files and programs which can easily be circumvented. Simply put, a behavior-based detector determines whether a program is malicious by inspecting what it does rather than what it says. (Jha, 2009) This is accomplished in two different ways currently, both of which are much more secure than the standard anti-virus applications. Anomaly detection is the process of building a set of normal operating procedures for your applications and then watching for them to perform anything out of those norms. Specific-based monitoring sets global policies and rules your computer system must abide by in order to prevent infections from man of the automated functions malware use for infection methods. This new type of security software can make great strides in keeping your system more secure. This next method can take more effort than the security companies automated scans and protections but at the same time can prove even more effective. This method involves learning a bit about how the malware is delivered so you can practice common safe habits such as avoiding file-sharing services, ensuring that websites you are getting software from are reputable, keeping your software up to date with the latest patches, and also employ the same security software on top of your knowledge. In all things knowledge can be power, and with keeping yourself informed and staying alert for possible pitfalls many headaches can be avoided. With the ever growing varieties and increasing number of malware infections we are faced with today it can be easy to get overwhelmed and paranoid. However by keeping yourself informed on the best practices of computer safety as well as implementing a solid security system on your computer you can protect yourself from malware. While no method will ever be 100% accurate you can minimize the impact of infection and save yourself a lot of time and

English 111 Assignment: Phase 3 Discussion Board

headaches, leaving time to get back to enjoying the digital community to connect with friends and family all across the world.

English 111 Assignment: Phase 3 Discussion Board

Reference Whats the difference between viruses, trojans, worms, and other malware? [Web log message]. (2010, June 10). Retrieved from http://lifehacker.com/5560443/whats-the-differencebetween-viruses-trojans-worms-and-other-malware PandaLabs quarterly report q2 2010. (2010, June 1). Retrieved from http://www.pandasecurity.com/img/enc/Quarterly_Report_PandaLabs_Q2_2010.pdf Mullin, B. (2009, January 14). The best Defense against malware you [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://billmullins.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/the-best-defense-againstmalware-you/ Howarth, F. (2008, April 1). Emerging malware threats in 2008. Emerging malware threats in 2008, Retrieved July 10, 2010, from database. Kirk, J. (2010, June 20). Testing reveals security software often misses new malware . Retrieved from http://www.cio.com/article/597263/Testing_Reveals_Security_Software_Ofte n_Misses_New_Malware Jha, S. (2009, February 25). How to Combat malware threats with behavior-based anti-malware . Retrieved from http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/How -toCombat-Malware-Threats-with-Behaviorbased-AntiMalware/