Security Companies Team Up To Fight Zombie Machines

from the how-soon-until-this-goes-wrong dept

In general, I have very little trust for anti-virus and other computer security firms. They've shown over and over again that they're likely to hype various threats out of proportion in order to help build sales. So, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this report that four different online security firms are working together to create a system that will prevent virus outbreaks and denial of service attacks before they really get going. It seems like a good idea, but I can also see how such a system could have unintended consequences - especially considering the companies making the software. The idea is to be able to notice a pattern that indicates the likelihood of a virus or a DoS attack, and quickly block it from going any further - as opposed to a more reactive response. In the end, this just becomes an escalating battle between hackers and the security companies as hackers will quickly figure out ways around the varous blocking products.
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  1. identicon
    Oliver Wendell Jones, 24 Oct 2002 @ 12:38pm

    Or worse yet...

    the hackers figure out a way to spoof the sensors into thinking that a DDOS attack or virus is running amok and they start shutting down and re-routing services when nothing is really wrong.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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