Digital BW, The Print

Hogarth Hughes


Anthony G. Atkielski wrote:

>Andre writes:
>
>  
>
>>According to Internet Storm Center (ISC), an unprotected computer
>>(security updates not installed)has about 20 minutes survival time
>>before it becomes infected by viruses.
>>    
>>
>
>That's a fantasy.  It implies that viruses can magically infect a
>computer without any human interaction, and that just isn't true.
>
>  
>
No, *that's* a fantasy. Human interaction is not required at all. The 
vast majority of infections and ownings are fully automated. That's the 
whole concept behind the term "script kiddie." They run scripts that 
probe PCs all over the net including the one you just connected, 
identify the vulnerabilities, run the exploits, install the bots, cover 
their tracks, and enter your PCs vital statistics into a list while your 
human is suffering through his/her school day. When they get home from 
school they've got another string of zombies to play with or sell. BTW, 
spammers are currently paying about USD 3000.00 for a string of 25000 
zombies. Tell me you could do it by hand for that price.

In my own experience, it is nearly impossible now to install the OS from 
CDROM on a fresh disk drive, then connect to the 'net and download the 
patches. But the time your download is complete, you are almost assured 
of being infected. Twenty minutes is very generous, two minutes is more 
likely.

The only way to be sure to end up with a healthy PC is to go to a known 
stable PC, download the patches to CDROM, and apply the patches from 
this CDROM before connecting to the 'net.

This was true when I was CTO for a website four years ago. It's worse 
today. But don't take my word for it. Try it yourself. You might get lucky.