Over 50% of PC's could be disabled in the near future!

Hi all,

I am Bob Wing, CEO of PCPinpoint Technologies, Inc. makers of LikeNEWPC computer repair software. I recently wrote a white paper about our belief that current home computer security strategies or lack of could lead to a mass disabling or shut down of Personal Computers. I base this on the fact that most home computers are infected due to negligence and inaction or dependence on single security suites that cannot cover all of the varied threat types in the cyber world today.

I would like to get your opinion on our conclusions and thoughts as to what we can do better to help implement a process to provide maximum consumer protection. Here is the white paper and our current strategy. Please..... help us help those that cannot protect themselves.

thanks for the help,

Bob Wing

 

Hi Bob.

This is all interesting, and maybe there is a comment to be made, but you need to allow this to be downloaded without Facebook/Twitter restrictions.

 

Yes, and javascript has to be enabled. Besides:

That's disqualifying. I won't download that PDF for sure.

 

If the subscription can be canceled (as all regular subscriptions can) then it's not a big deal for me.
I'm more concerned with fb/tw requirements on a security forum.

[EDIT] Bob, since you wrote the paper, you need to upload it to a reputable place. The very fact that you require personal info for your paper to be downloaded is not a good sign.

 

Yes, but they have your email address. I don't want that. Perhaps you can enter a fake address but I'm not going to try that.

 

Not my intention to go off topic, but they only have it if you logged in with your personal accounts. There are sites that offer subscriptions but you can enter whatever you want for an address.

 

It's obviously a test to see if 50% of people on security bulletin boards download anything from any link, or offer to put personal information into a web page linked to by someone with a single figure post count.

 

LOL did we scare him away?

 

Yeah, social engineering is wide-spread. I withstood that temptation - I'm proud of myself

 

It's a jungle out there!

 

Probably ... lol.

 

Ok, sorry you can go directly to our website and download. I actually liked the white paper sited lead in but I understand your concerns. Try this one.

http://www.likenewpc.net/whitepaper.doc

 

Direct link to .doc file? no no...

EDIT: OK will open it in sandbox

 

Ok let me try it this way. Uploaded the file and our software is free for all.

 

I've read it and few thoughts from me:
- personally I don't think that security situation is as bad as presented in your paper. It's bad but IMO far from "80% percent of home computers being infected". (except if we are counting tracking cookies as infection)
- steps to secure your system are IMO OK. Though IDK how safe it would be for regular users to run Rkill. ( I never used it)
- performing all those steps by running one software can be problematic if software is not tested for all possible scenarios it may encounter. Similar tools could sometimes create a lot of problems if not tested properly.

That's my 0.02.

 

Thank you Minimalist, very good comments. Rkill is well validated and kills process and services of known threats. Unfortunately I may have understated the threat. I work with a lot of end user machines. As I stated most do not even know how to run their scanners. They just think their computer is slow and have been trained by marketing folks that its old.... it is always infected from my experience.

 

Yes that's true. But lately I prefer to just backup personal data and reinstall OS instead of trying to clean it. This way they don't have to replace their hardware and still gain some speed from clean system. But off course, that's just me.

 

It's not just bold, this is pure speculation. You can't possibly know if something like that will ever happen.
The paper is basically based on scare tactics. But it's not just you, many security vendors use that model, it's the nature of business. While everything you mention has merit, it is presented in an overblown way that will overwhelm and possibly unnecessarily scare less knowledgable people - the ones who can't protect themselves. It's simple - a scared user gives out his money more easily.
This IMO is not the best way to introduce new users to security. Each person has different security needs according to their habits, there is no universal recipe. I remeber when I joined here, there were statements like "security is not an app, it's a process". True.

 

Here's the problem.... I tell my friends about the dangers and they are completely indifferent. You cannot secure your computers today with a single security suite. For instance, ADWcleaner is excellent with browser threat removal but so so with malware. Malwarebytes is good with Malware removal but not as good in other areas. That in my opinion is why they purchased the ADWcleaner product. The technologies and threat vectors are so varied that it takes multiple products to secure your machine. By the way, just restoring or re-imaging your machine may not remove all the threats. They can reside in other areas like BIOS or reserved areas of the disk or even memory. Honestly, the fact that hackers know you are just re-imaging makes that more of a target for threat creation.

 

By the way I do say MAY shut down 50% of PC's. I personally believe it will happen in the next two years. I also believe foreign agents most likely already have the ability as do we. As an ex-Navy guy I can say what you can dream they are already working on.

 

You can't, and you need not to, patch every possible hole in your system at any possible moment. You don't build a stone fortress, this is simply not security.

While there were PoCs even ages ago for BIOS rootkits, this is grossly overblown. But this is another discussion.

We don't deal in beliefs here.

[EDIT]

Man, I live on the other side of planet and I don't care about all that.

Cheers

 

There are experts here on Wilders. They share & help. I appreciate them.
I'm ok used to good but I stopped learning. I know **all about W10.

Used to fix peoples computers in home & council them on security.
I know this, 99% of people are worthless when it comes to safe computing. Even after a talking to.
The public use computing devices (in all forms) like refrigerators.

When peoples computers stop working they just buy another refrigerator.

So don't worry OP plenty of new refrigerators are ready to replace disabled PCs.
The public is worthless, the more choice in computing the faster new refrigerators/PCs will be sold.

TGF Wilders.

Really nothing that helps keeps the public safe from themselves helps knowledgeable people (Wilders members). It just infringes on our privacy.

Just wait till the IOT is in 99% of everything.

 

I read the .pdf.

My comment is there are a lot of software on the web that claim to do likewise; both in the past and currently. Most of them are/have been hoaxes, PUA's, and worse. That said if you are a legit software provider, I give you my best wishes. You're certainly going to need them and a lot more.