Security

[Grimthorpe]

Can anyone give some expertise on this ( as an example ): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6221306.stm

If I have virus software (Nod 32) , zonealarm patch my Windows XP regularly would I be safe from infection, and know if I have been infected if I was?

Thanks

[gomez]

Are you worried about picking up malware while browsing other people's web sites or about your own web site become hijacked? You should of course be worried about both. The latter is down to your web site hoster to cleanse and protect but the former also needs your browser and OS to be bang up to date with any security patches as well as your A/V software.

[stephenc]

agree with gomez. mpack still seems to look for current "known" vulnerabilites (like the recent ANI exploit). That said, even the virus guys don't seem to have the very latest program version of mpack so unlcear what vulns (particularly if they are not known) an infected server will try and check your machine/browser for.

If you are super concerned about mpack then talk a look at this PDf which explains the program (and it's versions), the downloader and the exploits in detail.

Credit to Vicente @ Pandasoftware

[Grimthorpe]

Hi, and thanks. I wasn't necessarily worried about this specifically, but even if I had the latest updates there is always the possibility that a new vulnerability has been discovered and exploited. In that case would my virus software ( speaking generally here ) identify anything that had sneaked through. ( In this instance I'm talking about Pcs, not servers )

[acidtechno]

scanning your machine regularly is recommended, and should find anything suspected of being harmful.

anti virus will also stop you from manually opening files that could be harmful to your machine.

I'm sure anti virus software will identify some or all of dangerous files even if it has no name for it to identify it properly.

[stephenc]

Originally Posted by Grimthorpe

Hi, and thanks. I wasn't necessarily worried about this specifically, but even if I had the latest updates there is always the possibility that a new vulnerability has been discovered and exploited. In that case would my virus software ( speaking generally here ) identify anything that had sneaked through. ( In this instance I'm talking about Pcs, not servers )

decent virus software should spot something indeed. some exploits/viruses/trojans etc try and disable your antivirus or security protections but it you are up to date with all your windows updates, have an updated antivirus prog and signatures as well as perhaps spyware/adaware blockers, run a firewall and employ sensible practice (don't open dodgy emails or download rogue files from strange sources) then you should be okay.