Governments and Businesses Must Collaborate Against Malware Threats

Recently, Dr James Lyne, Chief technologist at Sophos warned that the numbers of malware attacks are expected to increase in the near future and hence he has requested everybody from security firms, government to users that they should be unite and team up against such kind of malware attacks, as reported by Security NewsPortal on 14th October 2010.

Further, Dr Lyne particularly recommended end-users, that they must frequently update their machines with the latest version of anti-malware software and other technologies.

Commenting on the whole issue, Iain Lobban, Director of Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) stated that the nation's future economic prosperity rested on assuring a defense against these types of malware attacks, and the Internet has created various prospects for cybercrooks and gangs, as reported by ZDNet on 13th Oct. 2010.

Iain Lobban told that the U.K. government computer networks get around over 20,000 infected e-mails on a monthly basis, of which around 1,000 intentionally attack the networks. He further stated that the governments have been utilizing cyber tricks to pressurize other nations and unite against these threats. Elaborating the risk factor involved, he stated that there had also been stealing of intellectual property on a huge scale. Some of these kinds of attacks are not only dangerous to the private groups, but at times, are also critical to national security as well.

Besides, Lobban recommended collaborations among variant parts of the technology, as reported by TECHWORLD on 13th Oct. 2010.

Remarkably, Sophos revealed that the number of worldwide malware attacks have increased by more than ten times to reach 60,000 per in 2010, in comparison to 5,000 per day in 2008, as reported by Techcentral on 14th Oct. 2010.

Though it is impracticable to completely halt attacks, the security firm recommends a six-step program to strengthen a nation's Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP). These steps include: developing and implementing IT policies, safeguarding information, managing the systems, safeguarding the infrastructure, guaranteeing round the clock easy availability and developing information management policies.

Security firm further recommended that the governments should not create or announce security standards; rather they should collaborate with industry players and private groups to distribute information to create awareness regarding CIP organizations and policies.

Related article: Government Sways in Fresh Data Breach Scandal

» SPAMfighter News - 10/26/2010