|
« Somerfield unhappy with Competition Comission |
Main
| Google Library project halts on copyright »
August 12, 2005
Online PCs compromised within 12 minutes
Without anti-virus software or a firewall, home PC’s stand a 50% chance of being attacked and infected by a malicious programme after just 12 minutes online, according to Mark Ward, the technology correspondent for BBC News website. Even if a PC is protected, worms and scanning programs will still search for a loophole.
The problem is growing as more people in the UK use broadband rather than dial-up to go online, as High-speed connections mean that people spend more time online and are attacked more frequently.
Peter Craig, spokesman for Trend Micro, which makes anti-virus software said: "Up to 40% of home users do not have any anti-virus software on their computers". This places confidential information at risk.
The range of security threats has also increased to include spyware, spam and phishing attacks.
All PCs need to have a firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware software installed as a minimum and these should be regularly updated. The machine should be scanned at least once a week.
Security companies are now starting to provide products for households with several networked PCs, including Trend Micro, Kaspersky, CA and McAfee. Some anti-virus programs now include an auto-update option, which allows the latest protections are downloaded as soon as they become available.
Tools are also being introduced to make updating even easier. Mr Craid said: "You can have a master copy of PC Cillin that makes sure all your copies are up to date just by clicking on one".
Posted by at August 12, 2005 06:59 PM
> Discuss this in the Platinax Business forums
|
