[cdg] Computer News - Antivirus Software Is Becoming More Important
- From: "Donny Duncan" <ravers_deelite@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <cdg@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 5 Sep 2004 18:35:39 -0500
Pulled from Computer Discounts Guide (www.computer-discounts-guide.com)
Antivirus software has never been in as much demand as it is today. I heard a
statistic recently that said, within five minutes of connecting to the
internet, your computer is subjected to at least one virus of some kind, if not
more. I couldn't believe it really, it seems like yesterday when only the
"geek's" like me were running Antivirus software, to be cool and all knowing.
Those days are long gone, and Antivirus software is a must have in today's
"always on" internet world. It was a lot different a few years ago, with dialup
being all that was available, so you really only had a chance of catching a
virus at those few minutes or hours that you were actually connected. But now
with DSL and Cable internet, more and more people are connected 24 hours a day,
7 days a week, and virus writers can't get enough of it, it's their dream come
true. So many people to infect, and such little time.
New viruses are written daily, trojan viruses, worm viruses, you name it. At
the end of 2001, it was reported that 1200 new viruses were discovered every
month, which amounts to 40 per day, and almost 2 per hour, and i'm sure that
number has increased in the past 2 years.
The bad news is that it really is getting worse, at an alarming rate. At a
website I visit often, SecurityStats.com, I found an article stating that PC
Viruses cost businesses approximately $55 Billion in damages in 2003, compared
to $20-30 Billion in 2002, and $13 Billion in 2001. That astounded me, because
surely Antivirus software is getting better, you would think that the cost of
damage would flatten out, or go down. The fact of the matter is that virus
writers are writing them faster than software companies can catch them, and
they're getting faster and better every day.
For example, the SQL Slammer virus which hit in early 2003, primarily aimed at
businesses running SQL Servers (trust me, there are a lot of them) took a mere
10 minutes to spread world wide, making it by far the fastest worm ever at that
time. It's reported that in the early stages, the number of infected hosts was
doubling every 8.5 seconds.
For an example that hits more to home, Message Labs collected over 1.2 Million
copies of the MyDoom virus, a virus that spreads automatically through email
which struck early this year. At its peak infection rate, about 1 in 12 emails
world wide were MyDoom viruses.
The main reason these viruses are so effective is because most people think
simply having Antivirus software is a "cure all" for their computer, and I
can't stress how wrong this is. Outdated virus protection is just as bad as
having nothing at all. Antivirus software needs a tune up, just like a car, to
run effectively. Without constant updates, it doesn't know about the new
viruses that are coming out every day.
What do you do then? Read the entire article to find out more:
http://www.computer-discounts-guide.com/anti-virus-software.html
Donny Duncan
http://www.computer-discounts-guide.com
http://www.making-an-online-living.com
http://www.satellitetv-reviews.com
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