Users are Indifferent to Third Party Application Updates, Says Secunia

According to a research conducted by vulnerability specialist company Secunia, third party applications are increasingly used by malware creators against using operating system attacks.

The Company informs that data from the research illustrates that there are many unpatched third party applications than operating systems among users. Moreover, application patches are exposed to exploit for longer time than operating system patches.

In fact, the security experts claim that attackers are now aiming to applications in response to better defense of operating systems.

Thomas Kristensen, Chief Technical Officer, Secunia, has said that the hackers have created advanced attack techniques, with focus on the applications that are likely to be unpatched, as reported by Vnunet on April 21, 2009.

He also informs that private users do not patch the applications. He has also alleged that several users do not know about the troubles due to unpatched programs. Software firms do not educate about the importance of renewing and neither do they provide ample updating mechanism, said Kristensen.

Kristensen also adds that the major threat to the system is the program installed by users themselves because it is out of date and is not secure.

Some days back, Microsoft also acknowledged that the third party applications were one of the major security threats to the systems. As per the research, roughly 90% of flaws unveiled in the second half of 2008 infected these applications. Moreover, Microsoft experts also add that inefficient updating of third party software makes the flaws a striking target for attackers.

Chief Cyber Security Advisor at Microsoft, Ed Gibson, has recommended that firms should implement stringent updating policies about third party applications and has indicated particularly to updating security patches on Adobe reader which, as per Gibson, has become the preferred target for the attackers.

In addition, security experts claim that security vendor firms should persuade users to update their third party applications. Many users are aware of updating their antivirus software and operating systems, but they should also consider the magnitude of updating the third party products as well.

Related article: Users Making Opening Online Accounts To Identify Thefts

» SPAMfighter News - 4/24/2009