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Windows Infected in 12 Minutes
Uber-Review writes "The speed with which PC's can become infected has now shortened. If your Windows computer is not properly protected,it will take 12 minutes before it becomes infected, according to London-based security company, Sophos. They have detected 7,944 new viruses in the first half of 2005, a 59% increase over the same time span last year."
Not to mention the original article was a lot better, and not a link to yet another news aggregrator that in turn links to another site: http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM .20050704.gtvirusjul4/BNStory/Technology/
Will wank off Linus Torvalds for fame.
The Internet Storm Center is tracking a similar number for while. See the "survival time". It has actually improved over the last few months!
---- join dshield.org Distributed Intrusion Detec
Speed doesn't shorten, kids; perhaps the OP meant "increased?"
That is why you unplug the computer while you install Windows and security programs. Have that stuff burned to CD or on a back up hard drive. You really don't want to be online right after a fresh install of Windows. I don't have my computer online until I have installed service pack 2, Anti-Virus, and Spybot.
For years I have run Windows straight out of the box (no firewall, no security software, nothing), and I've only ran into two viruses -- one through Kazaa, and one through IRC (both my fault).
You must run Windows Update religiously. Last year there was a worm, and if you hadn't already updated your machine, it was more or less impossible to avoid, because the time it took to download the update (a couple of minutes) was way more time than was necessary for your machine to be compromised and auto-reboot.
This worm automatically tried to infect random IP addresses near the host and was that prevalent that any given consumer connection was being attacked every minute or so.
if I've managed to run Windows for many years without any major problems, then I'm curious what they are doing during these 12 minutes to arrive to such a conclusion.
It need be as simple as "connect to the Internet to run Windows Update". It's nothing like "download spam and run random EXEs".
Each minor variation means that the old anti-virus signatures won't catch it.
So new signatures have to be downloaded.
The problem is that any error in that and you're vulnerable to these "new" viruses/trojans/worms.
The real problem is that the infection routes on Windows still haven't been closed.
If you're running a router then just enable NAT and bingo - a simple firewall. I always deploy ethernet ADSL modems now for many reasons - but this is the main advantage.
...)
1. Go to new site
2. Plug PC into modem
3. Configure modem
4. Plug phone line into modem
5. Download latest windows patches
Note that at stage 5 the PC is already protected by a firewall. Just need to AV and patches to protect against email, adware etc.
But then I also configure Thunderbird - which limits the email viruses as well (the number of times I've been called becuase a user can't open an email containing a virus
No, this has nothing to do with an email client. This is for a system connected to the internet and just sitting there with a default install.
What version of windows are you running?
I was running a Win98 PC as a gateway for the kids PCs connection at home, and it was generally fine, the odd virus, but nothing major.
However, when I put in Win2K (SP1, no firewall or AV initially installed), it was virtuall unusable within an hour.
According to the firewall, the machine gets attacked/probed maybe up to a hundred times a day, its ridiculous.
The retail and OEM versions of XP have been the SP2 version since Fall 2004.
-- "I never gave these stories much credence." - HAL 9000