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The Desktop Security Battle May Be Lost

Posted by kdawson on from the deploy-the-tinfoil-hats dept.

Trailrunner7 writes in with a Threatpost.com article that begins: "For years, security experts, analysts and even users have been lamenting the state of desktop security. Viruses, spam, Trojans and rootkits have added up to create an ugly picture. But, the good news is that the desktop security battle may be over. The less-than-good news, however, is that we may have lost it. Jeremiah Grossman, CTO of WhiteHat Security, said Thursday that many organizations, particularly in the financial services industry, have gotten to the point of assuming that their customers' desktops are compromised. And moving forward from that assumption, things don't get much prettier." It goes on to speculate about home routers being targeted and infected.

13 of 389 comments (clear)

  1. Though the Times They May Look Grim ... by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Desktop Security Battle May Be Lost

    No, you must have hope! We just need to hold them off a little longer until Gandalf the White Hat shows up on Shadowfax Machine.

    --
    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:Though the Times They May Look Grim ... by digitalmonkey2k1 · · Score: 2, Funny

      They may take our identities, but they'll never take OUR LOLCATS!!!!

      --
      My sausage tree didn't grow, does that make me a bad mommy?
    2. Re:Though the Times They May Look Grim ... by angelwolf71885 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Ron White once said " you cant fix stupid "

    3. Re:Though the Times They May Look Grim ... by arndawg · · Score: 3, Funny

      echo "127.0.0.1 icanhascheezburger.com " >> /etc/hosts

    4. Re:Though the Times They May Look Grim ... by tha_mink · · Score: 2, Funny

      But it won't matter if they control the network, if you build a secure encrypted network on top of it. You could root every machine between me and my bank. With the right protocols, you wouldn't be able to sniff or forge any traffic whatsoever. The worst you could do is a DOS.

      Yes, and that's what we should advocate. Everyone build a secure encrypted network. Ready.....GO!

      --
      You'll have that sometimes...
  2. Excellent by hodet · · Score: 2, Funny

    That was a great piece of investigative journalism. Banks have accepted that all their customers are infected and gawd knows that every last home router is insecure. So not only are you infected but you don't even know it. Run for the hills.

  3. Re:And this is why... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Then they could just assume that the customer's computer is incompatible.

  4. Don't worry! by eln · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Year of Linux on the Desktop(tm) is just around the corner!

  5. Re:And this is why... by mweather · · Score: 2, Funny

    Your bank uses activex?

  6. Re:What's a "Virus"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    for i in *.sh ; do

        if test "./$i" != "$0"; then

            tail -n5 $0 | cat >> $i

        fi

    done

  7. I know my windows systems are safe! by filesiteguy · · Score: 2, Funny

    I know this because I got a message saying my antivirus was out of date and that I needed to install an update. I simply clicked the link, gave them my credit card number and I'm safe now. I even have a cool new homepage.

    --
    The Kai's Semi-Updated Website Thingy
  8. Baffled by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 3, Funny

    I never seem to have these problems. Is there some weird, vulnerable OS out there that a lot of folks are using?

  9. Keanu: WHOA... by TiggertheMad · · Score: 2, Funny

    You lock up a tank by locking all the hatches internally but one, then putting a exterior padlock on that.

    *picks up bic pen*

    *walks toward nearest army base with M1 Abrams*

    *Whistles to allay suspicion*

    --

    HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!