Anti-Malware

Melbourne, 25 June 2010 – In the latest of its security advice articles, AVG (AU/NZ) Pty Ltd warns users of the dangers of surfing the web.

Whatever adventure you’re looking for, online or off, whether it’s navigating your way along a dangerous road, climbing down a steep cliff or diving into shark infested waters, you still ensure that you follow the correct safety procedures. So why should surfing the web be any different?

Browsing the web superhighway requires exactly the same level of caution that you would take when driving on a standard highway. After all you wouldn’t drive your car without a seatbelt, so why surf the web without anti-virus protection?

Lloyd Borrett, Security Evangelist for AVG (AU/NZ), said: “The web is booming like never before and the methods of defrauding people online continue to evolve. Unsolicited e-mails announcing lottery wins or phishing correspondence asking for banking details have become the new, hot scams. Without the proper protection you could be a sitting target.”

Thousands of con artists, grafters and fraudsters are trawling the web looking for online victims, and while web users may have become savvier, scams are becoming more sophisticated.

Social web sites are a popular stomping ground for cyber criminals. In recent months Facebook and Twitter have been plagued with a number of phishing and malware attacks, leaving many users inadvertently giving strangers their private data.

Bank account details, date of birth and email addresses are valuable pieces of information. So, for those who shop online without adequate anti-malware protection you could be unknowingly handing over your financial details to online fraudsters.

Research carried out in the UK by AVG Technologies in June 2010 backs up these fears. It found that one in 10 Internet users is surfing the web without security protection and putting their personal information at risk.

AVG said that users underestimate the financial and emotional cost of losing valuable data from their computers. The study found that £718 million (A$1.2 billion) worth of downloaded music is at risk because people who store their music online do not have adequate security.

The research also revealed that men are less likely to use computer security software than women. Meanwhile, 95% of web users over the age of 50 install software which protects from viruses.

The moral of the story is that if these consumers had used anti-virus software it would have protected them against strangers tracking and stealing their personal data.

Here’s a quick guide to the top scams you’re most likely to see on the web:

Online auction fraud
Fake eBay accounts encouraging people to bid for and purchase a non-existent product.

Phishing scam
Emails that appear to have been sent from your bank warning you about identity theft and asking you to log in and verify your account information.

Congratulations, You’re A WINNER
Email telling you that you’ve won a competition and directing you to visit a website and provide proof of ID.

Nigerian 419 Letter
Email usually written in capitals informing you about online scammers.

Postal Forwarding
Online advert looking for a ‘correspondence manager’ asking to accept wire transfers into your account.

As Borrett puts it, “You wouldn’t drive without the protection of a seatbelt, would you? No. So why go online without the right online protection? You know it makes sense!”

Millions of Australian and New Zealand families protect themselves on the web superhighway the free way, with AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition for the Windows and Linux operating system platforms. It delivers both anti-virus and anti-spyware protection. It also includes AVG LinkScanner® which protects against website based phishing attacks and malware. AVG LinkScanner is also now available as a stand-alone solution for both Windows and Mac users.

The Australian Government web site SCAMwatch (www.scamwatch.gov.au) contains more advice to help you recognise, report and protect yourself from scams. You can also sign up for its free SCAMwatch email alerts. AVG (AU/NZ) has a comprehensive range of security tips on its web site at www.avg.com.au/resources/security-tips/.

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In it’s latest meeting in Helsinki, The Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organisation (AMTSO) has adopted two new sets of guidelines for testing the perforance of security software and for testing entire security suites.

Security software testing organisations such as AV-Test.org and Virus Bulletin who test and rank security software for its effectiveness are often at odds with the security companies who produce the software. It is hoped that the agreement forged between leading security companies and the researchers will put an end to these long standing arguments.

Part of a series of documents on ATMSO’s website, the guidelines aim to introduce a set of standards widely accepted within the industry to help rank security software by effectivenessm, and althought they are no mandatory, many testing organisations have already agreed to adopt them including AV-Test.org, AV-Comparatives, Virus Bulletin, ICSA Labs and West Coast Labs.

Asked what he thought of the outcome, ATMSO board member and director of malware intellengence for ESSET, David Harley had this to say:

We’re just trying to get people to think harder their methodologies so that they actually make sense. It doesn’t mean you can’t do things different ways, it just means you have to try and conform to a rationality.

John Hawes from Virus Bulletin also commented on the guidelines:

We’ve already started implementing some of the ideas developed while discussing and designing this document, with some major expansions to the performance data we report in our comparatives in recent months and more improvements on the way.

We’re also hard at work developing a new style of test which will allow us to measure the full range of features in many of today’s security solutions.

Although the ATMSO has come to an agreement with these leading vendors, it has been critised in the past by others in the industry for lack of transparancy because many of the organisations members are comprised of security software vendors and may not entirely end the fueding between parties. AMTSO chairman and manager of Sophos’ threat lab commented that:

What we are trying to do is get everyone involved to think more widely about decisions made in designing tests. In this case we are talking about testing a whole product and not just part of a product, which can be very misleading, and also about measuring performance where it is so easy to create a performance test that is really just meaningless.

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More than 40 security product vendors including McAfee, Symantic and Kaspersky have pledged their support for a new project aim at creating a standard system for testing security software.

The proposed system would outline how tests should be carried out including:

• The type of malware used
• The method of analysis
• Accurate support for a conclusion
• Procedures for studying and disclosing new malware

In recent years some security software firms have been calling for an updated standard to be established as current test are often criticised for their inability to accurately access certain types of anti-malware programs.

It is hoped that the proposed standard will allow independent testing groups and security firms alike to research the effectiveness of anti-malware software with greater accuracy and neutraility.

McAfee senior vice president Jeeff Green:

While there have been many great security software reviews in the past, many poor reviews have confused or misled people.

This is a significant milestone that should skew the balance towards fair and scientific testing, providing users with a true viewpoint on the security protection vendors provide.

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