How are viruses & malware spread in today's world

Understand that you will not get a virus from your own PC.

Also understand that email and surfing (anything using your browser or an email client such as Yahoo mail, gmail, Outlook, Thunderbird, etc) are "online" programs. You are online using email even without your browser being open.

Keep your browser current as possible. There are improvements everyday with most browsers. Some fuss about Firefox and their 6 week release schedule but it is for the benefit of the user. They apply security patches constantly.

Understand what a virus is and is not. Read the first 3 bullets here:
http://gotnarcosis.com/brucewittmeier/technical/VirusMalwareAdwarePrograms.html



Sidenote:

sharker6 wrote:
Viruses & malware is spread by toilet seats in campground shower houses

Not so. We saw a movie in High School 1966 and they said you are more likely to get hit with a meteoroid than get a virus from a toilet seat...unless you go out with Betty. She was the star of the movie. :)

Virus are minor league. Hackers are major league.

Virus are minor league. Hackers are medium league. We ourselves are major league.:B
For myself I use two browsers, Chrome for everyday surfing and Mozilla when things get stuck (printing an online bus ticket for example). In Chrome I put all the security locks possible (Scriptsafe, no Java, Flash...).
After installing all the required programs I cloned the system and use that image to hose the entire system occasionally if things start going weird. No, I never lose my data because it's kept in other partitions. I use Linux (Ubuntu or Mint) on all my computers. It's small (4G at most), so the cloning and restoring are very fast. Firewall rules are also strictly enforced, even though more knowledgeable people said it's not necessary in Ubuntu.
I survive for 5 years so far, much better compared to the Windows period.

Apple itself was just hacked last week. It wasn't a virus but who cares if someone gets your password anyway.
Virus are the least of my concern. I haven't had one ever. And yes I would know it. Virus are minor league. Hackers are major league.

fj12ryder wrote:

powderman426 wrote:
They are mainly transmitted through weak operating systems that allow a site or an email into an area on the computer that can then be altered. Once this happens they can then disable your firewall and have access to your passwords etc. A good operating system (read NOT Microsoft) can make this very difficult. I can't count how many years I have been running without being infected. BTW I don't even use an anti virus program.

Amen, I haven't had a virus/infection of any kind for over 15 years so it must be the secure operating system I'm using.

Oops, I forgot I've been running Microsoft products all that time. Silly me. :)

Nice! +1

Exploits are not limited to OSes or specific methods of transfer. Most exploits are transferred via social engineering techniques, that is, getting someone to click a malicious link in a infected e-mail as an example. While we still have to be concerned about keeping our systems patched, to 1492's point, the current targets of exploits are 3rd party software such as the Adobe Reader, Flash Player, and JAVA.

A while back an international bust was made on an organization that was so sophisticated they actually opened accounts with legitimate companies like the New York Times. They bought advertizing on these legitimate web sites and buried malicious code in their ads.

Apple and Linux are no more secure than Windows. Anyone who thinks otherwise has their head buried in the sand. I've had nothing but Windows machines for 20 years and have never had a problem either, so does that mean Windows is secure? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/apple-hack-malware-attack_n_2719643.html

One thing to keep in mind is that it's not necessarily required to exploit the OS in order to gain a level on control over one's system. Hacker's know this, so not necessarily focused on exploiting the OS these days.

powderman426 wrote:
They are mainly transmitted through weak operating systems that allow a site or an email into an area on the computer that can then be altered. Once this happens they can then disable your firewall and have access to your passwords etc. A good operating system (read NOT Microsoft) can make this very difficult. I can't count how many years I have been running without being infected. BTW I don't even use an anti virus program.

How do you know your not infected:h

powderman426 wrote:
They are mainly transmitted through weak operating systems that allow a site or an email into an area on the computer that can then be altered. Once this happens they can then disable your firewall and have access to your passwords etc. A good operating system (read NOT Microsoft) can make this very difficult. I can't count how many years I have been running without being infected. BTW I don't even use an anti virus program.

Amen, I haven't had a virus/infection of any kind for over 15 years so it must be the secure operating system I'm using.

Oops, I forgot I've been running Microsoft products all that time. Silly me. :)

I retired from the Air Force in 1994. Back then it was very common for a virus to be spread by a floppy disk. Now - not so much.

They are mainly transmitted through weak operating systems that allow a site or an email into an area on the computer that can then be altered. Once this happens they can then disable your firewall and have access to your passwords etc. A good operating system (read NOT Microsoft) can make this very difficult. I can't count how many years I have been running without being infected. BTW I don't even use an anti virus program.