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Viruses don't do Christmas
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By Simon Heron
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Most companies' Internet security protection has a potentiallyfatal flaw: it relies on the long-suffering IT staff to runupdates and install patches. Your staff may be good, they may behard-working beyond compare, but they're people and they do needa day off now and then.
Whatever you may think of virus writers, some of them are verygood at picking up on opportunities. They've realised whencompanies are most vulnerable, and exploited this by carefullytiming the release of new viruses and other threats at weekends,overnight, or on public holidays.
For example, the Bagle virus was first spotted in early 2004 onSunday January 18th, and then rapidly spread globally. Beingreleased at a weekend caught out many companies, and anti-virusvendors scrambled to get updates available on the Monday. Thevirus's release appeared to be timed to coincide with two publicholidays: Martin Luther King Day in the USA (Monday 19th), andChinese New Year.
While IT staff may not be at work outside office hours, it iscommon practice for company employees to leave their PCs runningcontinuously so that mail is automatically downloaded. Also homeusers will have their PCs on, so there's plenty of computers onthe Internet to spread the virus while nobody's on duty. So yournetwork is vulnerable before the IT staff has realised there isa problem and can try and catch up. By then, it may be too late.
>From our installed base of security appliances, we can trackwhen viruses are reaching our customers. During the week we seean average of around three or four hundred viruses perappliance, and while this does drop to perhaps two hundred perappliance at the weekend, the volume is still significant. Thereare viruses knocking at the door of your network 365 days ayear, Christmas or not.
What can the poor overworked IT manager do to deal with thisproblem? Realistically, only the biggest companies are able toprovide 24x7 IT cover to update virus protection, and even thenholidays, staff illness and unforeseen demands can make itdifficult to be on top of security at all times. For SMEs, ITcover is inevitably some way short of 24x7.
One option is to outsource security, but many companies prefernot to choose this option. When we surveyed UK IT managersearlier in 2004, we found that nearly 70% said that managingsecurity was complex and time consuming, but only 40% ofrespondents would consider outsourcing it.
If you're handling security yourself, ensure you pick productsand vendors that handle as many of the maintenance chores aspossible automatically, without user intervention. Scheduledupdates are essential, and some vendors can push the latestanti-virus signatures out to their customers' appliances andsoftware, to ensure their protection is as up-to-date aspossible. And, it goes without saying, you should pick a vendorthat has a global presence and can provide 24x7 updates.
Finally, there's no substitute for well-educated users. Securitythreats increasingly rely on social engineering and na?ve usersclicking where they shouldn't - keep your users informed onwhat's allowed and what's forbidden, and you've got a fightingchance of keeping viruses away from the company Christmas tree.
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