Have we finally won the malware war?

[Osaban]

Yes, at least here at Wilders! I'm not trying to be too provocative but I'd like to share some thoughts. In 2005-06-07-08, my systems used to detect quite a number of malware especially from third party flash drives (the numbers then ran into hundreds), from the Internet I must say it was always very low.

Now enter MSE, Avira free, Avast Free, AVG free which have all proved to compete quite well with their paying counterparts, and suddenly most users have reasonably clean systems. How do I base my judgement about most users? Simply because the same crowd of flash drives that were very infected in the above mentioned years are now (for the last 3 years) almost always clean.

I can't believe it myself, statistics tell us of some 60,000 new malware are created every day, and yet in 3 years I found perhaps 6-7 infections whereas in previous years they were running into hundreds.

My conclusion is that the average Joe, finally cares about computer security! It's good news, although I'm not putting into the equation malware that doesn't propagate by design. I definitely use the Internet for research, always looking for websites that can provide the info I'm looking for, and I have yet to find malware anywhere. Well, am I in denial?

[Dark Shadow]

I am not sure if we one the war but I have recently spooken to a guy I know that owns a PC repair shop and a lot of his work has been hardware repairs or upgrades more so then malware repair.

I can always find malware but sometimes it not always the obvious sites,like adult sites.Go downloading a bunch of stuff for gaming or some screen savers etc and watch the malware,addware,spyware and tools bars that exsist.

However I have been on the worst reputable sites and came out clean,it could be a add or a link on that site that host the malware and the rest can be fine and then return back to it shortly after words and it's gone.

To me its kinda like looking for grizzlies in the Alaska forest you may not see one or it may find you when you least expect it.
Happy hunting cheers.

[Hungry Man]

Sure, at Wilders we're all fairly safe. I don't think we've won. There's still so much money to be made by taking over user computers. It's just easier to take over non-wilders members computers.

[Tarnak]

HIPS HIPS hooray

[Coldmoon]

Hi Osaban,
I don't think it's time to break out the champagne quite yet... What I DO think you might be noticing is a sea change on the target for the malware and a more targeted, "professional" approach for the maldevs.

[Ranget]

i agree with Coldmoon

Targted attacks nowday are Rising

[noone_particular]

I'd also wonder if some of this recent malware is just going undetected. A while back, was hearing a lot on the possibility of malware in the BIOS, firmware, chipsets, etc. Not hearing as much now, but it does make me wonder how such malware would even be detected without specialized equipment. I can't imagine an AV finding it.

[safeguy]

How can we 'win' the war if it hasn't ended?

It still remains as an ongoing battle...albeit with newer tools and technology at both ends disposal. At our side, we're figuring out better defense tactics whereas at their side, they're figuring out better attacking mechanisms and if there's more strategic locations to target.

Maybe it's just me but I personally think that the objective of the war for us isn't exactly about 'winning'...it's more of reducing the likelihood of the other side deciding to engage a battle with us or minimizing the loss if they already decide to do so.