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Sci Tech
'Shubh yatra: Have a safe cyber journey!'
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Viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spam — multiple threats confront the `connected' PC user today. Anand Parthasarathy looks at what's being done and reviews some tried and tested remedies.
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IN HAPPIER, less complicated times, `countdown' lists meant the weekly ranking of Hindi films songs on Radio Ceylon's `Binaca Geet Mala'; or the U.K. `Top of the Pops' broadcast by the BBC or `The New York Times' list of bestselling books carried by many Indian newspapers. It is a pathetic sign of the times that for many PC owners and Internet surfers, the most compelling list every month, is the `Top Ten' of virus security threats compiled by firms specialising in anti-virus products.
One such ranking informs us that right now, `W32.Klez' continues to retain its top slot worldwide, having shaken off a brief challenge last week from an email `worm' called `Mankx'. `Hybris' and `Nimda' are neck and neck in the global stakes but for Asia Pacific, Lovgate `is the `dark horse'. `Bugbear' hangs on to its previous slot, while the appropriately christened `Backdoor' just sneaks into the Top Ten. Till next time then, here's wishing you an uneventful month of surfing. Shubh Yatra! The threat to secure computing has gone beyond simple remedies like installing an anti-virus software. Keeping the software updated is in itself a major exercise. Popular applications based on the Windows platform are the favoured targets of `neoterrorists' and leading anti-virus product makers regularly offer products to neutralise every new assault on a Windows tool. Possibly on the sturdy principle that two is better than one, Microsoft last week joined hands with Network Associates and Trend Micro to form the Virus Information Alliance, so that customers could find a centralised resource on high risk viruses at one location (www.microsoft.com/technet) . Incidentally this is not the first instance when someone thought combining the expertise of competing virus busters made sense. Anantivirus service called GallantSentry offers to filter mail through three layers provided by McAfee, Trend Micro and Norton for achieving truly clean e-mail. Meanwhile that modern day scourge: Spam or unsolicited junk mail has reached such alarming proportions that the U.S. Congress has stepped in and is currently debating a bill that will curb this traffic. But consumer agencies have questioned the very basis of the American Congress initiative, dismissing it as just another way to legitimise e-mail solicitation when the average user is saying "A plague on both your houses! I want neither legal nor illegal mail which I did not ask for. I just want to be left alone."
Beyond viruses and spam, lurk other dangers on the Web which add a whole new and dangerous dimension to security. Earlier this month Symantec launched its Vulnerability Assessment Solution in India, to help network operators identify the weak spots in their systems. While this is a defence against an outside attack, networks also have a duty to cleanse what they are sending out. To address this, Symantec had in April launched what it called "the only single-vendor integrated, single-scan antivirus plus content filtering solution available on the market for comprehensive protection against malicious code including blending threats". Web Security 3.0 is meant for content providers to centrally manage several servers and filter their web-based hypertext and file transfer traffic. This is the trend.
Regular users of Microsoft's Hotmail may have noticed that all attachments are routinely scanned by McAfee and additional anti-spam filters are customer installable. While it may be reassuring to know that such a wealth of tools is available for Internet providers and web managers, it does not diminish, the vulnerability of lay users who have to look to out-of-the-box solutions to protect themselves. Shrink-wrapped antivirus products are available from a number of reputed vendors and some users have found that the free services provided by AVG (www.grisoft.com) serves them well enough. It is really a matter of personal taste, preference and purse. But many lay PC owners who regularly go online have found that anti-virus protection is just one aspect of a many-headed problem. Constant surfing, accompanied by the frequent installation and removal of multiple applications soon leaves the PC looking like the neighbourhood dustbin. Readers of the pre-Internet, pre-Windows, probably have fond recollections of a guy called Peter Norton who was the brain behind that great life saver, `Norton Utilities'. In the early 1980s, it fitted neatly on two floppy disks and saved many a PC from disasters like accidentally erased files, unreadable sectors or otherwise unrecoverable data. Norton sold his company to Symantec in 1990 — which is why the name survives till today on its flagship product, Norton AntiVirus. Happily, the classic Norton Utilities is not dead. It lives again as part of Norton System Works. The 2003 edition of System Works is combo pack of Norton Utilities and Norton Antivirus with some additional tools: CleanSweep to remove unwanted files and programmes from the hard drive; Web Tools which does the same with Internet-related clutter like cache and cookies which tend to accumulate; GoBack3, which provides recovery from crashes by allowing you to revert to a previous working state And Connection Keep Alive which ensures that the service provider is prevented from disconnecting a connection after a certain period of inactivity.
The last is not so useful for Indian users who in any case have to struggle to get a connectionThe 2003 Norton AntiVirus has a useful One Button check up facility that can be programmed for customised system scans. It boasts aheuristics-based worm-blocker that should detect and stop worms in their tracks even if the precise definition is not yet available. It also promises to remove worms and Trojan horses without a pause in ongoing work.
But these are features that I can verify only when the next worm attack occurs! NAV has now extended its scans from email to instant messages with support for inbound and outbound traffic from Yahoo, AOL, MSN and Windows messenger services. As in previous editions, NAV includes a year's free updates. As for the Norton Utilities part of the package, it retains the old feel with all the familiar tools including Disk Doctor. After Microsoft graduated to Windows, it beefed up many of the built-in routines like defragmenter and Scan Disk. But NU seems to do it much faster. It also seems better at disk rescue operations and the Speed Disk tool may actually make a tangible difference which cannot be said of the umpteen free accelerators available on the Web. Norton System Works 2003 costs around Rs. 2999 in India — which is a steal considering that Norton AntiVirus alone costs Rs. 2025.
Customers of earlier editions can upgrade online for below Rs. 1000 (Non customers can still do a free virus scan or a security check of their PCs at www.symantec.com) . Which one is the solution for you? It depends on your perception: Is your favourite tool a screw driver for the job at hand — or a Swiss Army Knife for all emergencies?
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