How Long Can an Unprotected PC Last…
on the Internet Before it Gets Violated?*
Well, according to the latest data from SOPHOS, just 720 seconds!
Here’s a quote from them which was used in an article on ‘The Register‘ today:
“More computer viruses and worms mean an unprotected Windows PC (without either firewall or antivirus protection) stands a 50 per cent chance of infection by a worm after just 12 minutes online. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, conceded ”
Are you surprised just how quickly your PC(s) can get infected? Well, you shouldn’t be!
Am I surprised at this?
No, not at all, in fact I’ve seen systems infected even faster than this by more than one malware strain.
So, you have been warned, if you need to connect a new system to the Internet please make sure that you at the very least patch it, and turn on the firewall. If you can, use another [already patched and secured] PC or get a friend to download the updates for you and burn them onto CD, this could make the difference from your ‘virgin’ computer happily using the Internet and it getting a case of the digital pox.
I’ll be posting a full review of June 2005 next week [OK, own up who stole June? 
], and I also hope to cover the first half of the year [from a malware perspective] as well, if I can find some time to do the analysis and write it up.
*Assuming it is a Windows system not running any [or out of date] anti-virus and no personal firewall or other security technologies.
Please note that this blog has now moved to my own hosted domain here: http://momusings.com/momusings/.
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All the data up to the end of December 2006 will be left here, however all postings from the 1st of January 2007 onwards will only be available at this blogs new home.
ALL future postings will only be available at the new site.
