On the importance of a settings password

Today I found two applications in my list of excluded applications listed under Application Modification Detection in settings. They were lsass.exe and cvpnd.exe (cisco vpn) and the thing is, I cannot remember putting them in or why I would have.

Scenario: So then say some malware did get through and even that it targets nod32 specifically (think worst case). Without having a settings password enabled the malware could easily modfy the settings of the firewall then install some evil lsass.exe and no one would be any the wiser.

I couldn't find anything posted about this but I saw some stuff about being able to shut of the ekrn.exe by renaming etc. This could even be worse as it may be harder to detect IMO.

I'm just looking for some perspective on it. I realize that the chances of this are pretty slim but it seems my paranoia knows no bounds. Maybe you'll be able to tell me why I shouldn't worry and learn to love the malware.

aaaaaayyyyeeee!

soj