A quarter of US PCs infected with malware

A quarter of US PCs infected with malware: OECD - Security - Technology

Quote:

An OECD study into online crime says that increased activity by cyber criminals has left an estimated one-in-four US computers infected with malware. The report, entitled Malicious Software (malware): a Security Threat to the Internet Economy, gives an impression of two worlds engaged in an uneven war of virus invasion and belated defence. Cyber crime, to steal data, spy and attack government and business computer systems "is a potentially serious threat to the internet economy," the study, published on Friday, warns. Organisations involved in "fighting malware offer essentially a fragmented local response to a global threat," the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development says. "Over the last 20 years, malware has evolved from occasional 'exploits' to a global multi-million-dollar criminal industry ... Cyber criminals are becoming wealthier and therefore have more financial power to create larger engines of destruction." "It is estimated that 59 million users in the US have spyware or other types of malware on their computers," the OECD report said. (continues)

One thing I found very concerning was this paragraph further down the page about my country:

Quote:

However, a study by the Australian government in 2005 found that only one in seven Australian computers was protected by a firewall.

In my opinion, ISPs should be forced to cut off access to PCs which are not using a firewall. It wouldn't be hard to do - all they would have to do is ping for unprotected ports. Maybe an email to the customer to advise they need a firewall, with the threat of suspension of their service if not done within a certain period (say, 7 days).

A quarter? you say?
How about 99%?
Almost every new computer I visit, that's been on-line more than a day, has some form of malware on it.

Even a brand new PC, right out of the box will have some spyware on it, installed by the manufacturer. Wild Tangent Games is a good example.

There is NOT one of my customers who does not have at least AVG 8.0 FREE and Spybot S&D installed. I set AVG to update automatically every day that the computer is logged on and I go thru the entire updating and scanning process with each customer as well as I leave them with a full page of printed instructions for each program I give them.

Spybot doesn't update automatically, but the process is easier than playing a game of solitaire or hearts.

It they get infected it's only through their own dang'd laziness.!!!!

Firewall?
There's NO reason in the world why any PC running XP/SP2, or Vista, should not be protected behind a firewall.
It's a part of Windows.
It's FREE! It requires NO setup and NO operator intervention. It don't git no simpler than that!

Saying that Spyware is running rampant, is just saying that stupidity is running rampant.
But, we already know that......don't we?
We see it every day!

On this and dozens of other forums, day after day and week after week, we tell people over and over again, what programs to get and run to keep their PC's malware free. I've even posted my entire list of Security Software on this very site, like, over and over again.

And daily, someone comes in complaining of some Adware/Spyware infection on their PC.
There's another such post on this very forum today.
I'm almost to the point of just ignoring them.

Thanks for the post. Velly intelestink!

Doc