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Security is futile!
3 comments- TAGS:anti-virus, Cisco, malware, network, PC, security
- IT TOPICS:Desktop Applications, Enterprise Software & Services, Management, Networking, Operating Systems, Security, Software
Surrender now! All your base are belong to us. Exterminate! Exterminate!
Well, that's probably not what Cisco's chief security officer John Stewart meant when he told attendees at an Australian security conference that malware is growing so fast that, "If patching and antivirus is where I spend my money, and I'm still getting infected and I still have to clean up computers and I still need to reload them and still have to recover the user's data and I still have to reinstall it, the entire cost equation of that is a waste. It's completely wasted money."
On second thought, maybe that is what Stewart meant!
Now, he's not suggesting that you just roll over and die. Stewart believes that "There are too many companies in the world that actually believe infection is just a cost of doing business and are getting used to doing it - as opposed to stopping it completely. That's dangerous." So what should companies do instead of fighting malware infections with ineffective anti-virus antibiotics? Stewart suggests that companies use white-lists. By this, he means using computer environments where only authorized software can run.
I sort of like this idea. You'll certainly, for example, have a more secure network by simply switching your clients from Windows to Linux. But, while that would help a lot, Linux has its own security problems as the whole Debian OpenSSL debacle recently showed.
Even the most secure operating system I know, NetBSD has security problems.
It would be great if we could use a white-list of truly secure software, but there really is no such thing. Security's a process, not a product. Cisco's own Network Admission Control the company's own spin on NAC (network access control) is certainly patched on a regular basis.
We may be behind in the malware race, but we're going to have to keep patching, repairing and constantly working to keep our systems as secure as we possibly can. As Ryan Naraine, a security evangelist for Kaspersky Lab, a major anti-virus vendor, recently told me, "Businesses and consumers must think of security as layers -- lock the doors, lock the windows, check alarm before going to bed - it's the same on the computer. You need to run updated anti-virus, keep the machine patched, keep the firewall turned on, don't click on Britney videos You have to have the combination.," and never forget that just as "one point of failure (an open window) leaves your home exposed, the same is true on the desktop.
It would be great if there was a magic white-list of truly secure software, but there's not. We just have to do the best we can with the tools we have in hand even if they're not as effective as we'd like.
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