Security Briefs

SECURITY BRIEFS

 

An article in PC WORLD reports that 81% of all mobile smart phones are using the Android OS. That percentage is hardly surprising as it seems that every one and their cousin have Android phones on the market, as compared to APPLE which has the "iPhone".

What they didn't say was that almost 80% of mobile phone malware was structured for Android phones. While the year hasn't ended yet, the final figures aren't out, so I'll just remind you that last year one security firm detected 350,000 malware threats for Android, and at the beginning of this year it was predicted that the number of detected Android malware threats could reach one million [source: ZDnet and Trend Micro].

Thus, if you must go down the Android path, it would be in your best interest to buy mobile anti-virus software from someone like Trend Micro, Norton, or Kaspersky.

VIRUS REMOVAL

I've been asked several times by different sources to come up with a step-by-step guide to removing viruses, including all of the utilities I use so it would become that companies virus removal policy guide. The reason I received the requests is due to my average in cleaning computers of various infections [I would have to go back and check, but the percentage is well over 90%].

The problem with anything I write becoming that companies "POLICY" is that I'd be the first one to break it. Different infections require different tactics, scrambling the step-by-step guide with each different virus, trojan, etc. 

If you are very good at malware removal and suddenly a policy is put into place on how to remove viruses I would suggest that you nod your head in agreement and continue to do whatever you do that works, and on the flip side of this, if you bring six out of ten infected computers back to your business for virus removable I would try to talk to your supervisor and just tell him "Hey, I'm good at what I do, but for some reason not with viruses." And usually they'll stop assigning you virus related calls.

You have to love fighting a good fight in removing whatever infections are plaguing a customers computer, often treating it like a game of Chess. But if your heart isn't in to it no guide will help you much at all.

'Nuff Said,
Brian