Re: Just 12 minutes

From: "Daave" <dcwashNOSPAM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

| I'm sure many here are very familiar with the notion that there is "a
| 50% chance of being infected by an internet worm in just 12 minutes of
| being online using an unprotected, unpatched Windows PC." As many of you
| know, this is a direct quote from a Sophos press release from July 1,
| 2005:
|
| http://www.sophos.com/pressoffice/news/articles/2005/07/pr_uk_midyearroundup2005.html
|
| Sophos got a lot of mileage from this press release. An interesting side
| effect I've seen is newsgroup posts warning users of the dangers of
| going online to patch an older, pre-SP2 version of Windows XP because it
| will take more than 12 minutes, leaving many vulnerable to malware
| infestation. Obviously, there are ways around this: download the entire
| service pack (using another PC) and burning a disk so that SP2 may be
| applied while the PC is offline and safe. Or users may get the
| equivalent disk from Microsoft for a nominal fee.
|
| But this begs the question: For the majority of people who choose to
| obtain SP2 through automatic updates, *how* vulnerable are they exactly?
| Of course, for those running SP1 or Gold, Messenger Service (which is on
| by default) can be manually turned off. But again, for the majority of
| people who have performed a clean installation without knowing to turn
| off specific services, how vulnerable are their PCs?
|
| I'm sure the study referenced in the press release talks about averages
| and includes people who don't patch their systems and don't practice
| other modes of safe hex. Messenger spam arriving informing a gullible
| person that they have spyware or registry problems has happened many,
| many times. People clicking on links in e-mails when they shouldn't be
| doing so... well, you get the picture.
|
| But what about a PC on the Internet that is not doing anything but
| sitting there? Without the benefit of a firewall, hackers/bots can
| attempt to do damage, for sure. But without any user input, is this
| 12-minute figure reasonable? Or is it more a case of marketing hype?
| Specifically, what specifically can happen to an unpatched system,
| assuming there is no user input (clicking on links, OK buttons in pop-up
| windows, etc.)? Are there worms that can do damage this way, and if so,
| what are they and what is the mechanism by which they infect a PC? How
| common is real-time hacking in this sort of situation?
|

Using a NAT Router will mitigate the BOT/Worm threat as well as hacking attempts.

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
Multi-AV - http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp


.

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