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Subject:
IW - Virus protection - why aren't we better prepped?
Elbandeedo
5/29/2002 5:48:13 AM
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The number one reason that viruses are effective is lack of updates to AV software. That is the BASE reason. There are many underlying reasons for the AV software not being updated:
1. Lack of training on the part of the sysadmin folks, (becoming more a rarity, but still an issue in DoD circles, more so in the civilian government sector)
2. Too much to do, too little time - When the commander screams, "Why don't I have commo with .....?!?! ", the commo people are not as concerned with how secure the information system is, as they are with making it work "YESTERDAY!". Everytime there is an issue in the network (radio/landline/data or voice) the same folks are called. There are only so many properly trained to get the job done and often such things as security patches and AV updates are allowed to fall by the wayside. This reflects again on the training aspect. If the folks are properly trained, they will begin to understand that a little foresight will save them mountains of time later. (installing updates to AV software and also patches to OS's take time, but the time LOST when commo is down due to NOT doing those things is much more painful, to the commo folks and their customers.)
3. Insiders - people who are authorized to be on the equipment and don't use it within guidelines. Downloading 'cute AVIs' or other unauthorized attachments and installing and running them on a network opens the network up to attack. Again, this goes back to the training issue, this time from the users perspective. We ALL know not to download stuff on our 'govvie' computers - yet most still do. We are usually just lucky!
Viruses aren't the worst thing a person can inadvertantly place on their network. While inconvenient, at least they aren't 'directly malicious' like say... a 'trojan horse' or 'back door' program that allows external and unauthorized access to your data.
How important is your info? Train your people and then supervise - check out the AV pages once in a while, Norton, McAfee, Dr. Solomons to name a few.
And get smart yourself. check out link for starts. Remember, when you turn on your computer, you go to war.
E.
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