PRWeb, November 07, 2002

70 percent of all computers not protected against viruses
Evaluation of security tests on safersurf.com showed alarming result: More than 70 percent of the users do not have an active protection against viruses and Trojans. This means that 70 percent of the users are surfing the internet unprotectedly.

Parallel to the introduction of the new virus protection by SaferSurf all visitors and more than 1200 customers got the chance to test their internet browser and eMail program online for security vulnerabilities. The test simulated the most common security gaps that are used by hackers and viruses to get access to a computer. The evaluation of the log files and the feedback forms showed an alarming result.

More than 70 percent of the users did not have an active protection against viruses and Trojans. This means that 70 percent of the users are surfing the internet unprotectedly. About the same percentage of users is not protected against so-called exploits. Exploits are security gaps in the browser that permit to read data in the clipboard or to start any files on the user computer.

"Especially unsuspecting users frequently fall victim to viruses. The installation, configuration and updates of anti-virus software is simply too much for them. The protection has to set in before the malware is loaded", says the German internet security expert Rittelmeier about the current security problems. This statement is supported by the latest AOL survey that showed that 45 percent of the users do not have the technical knowledge to protect themselves effectively.

The biggest security gap was the automatic installation of dangerous dialers via signed ActiveX controls. More than 85 percent of the users leave the default settings in the Internet Explorer untouched. This enables dialers to install and execute programs automatically and without confirmation.

"Due to this fact it is easily possible to install a dialer or other programs by means of a normal eMail with embedded HTML code, because the security settings of the Internet Explorer also apply to MS Outlook", says René Holzer, CEO of Nutzwerk and inventor of the real-time data filter SaferSurf.

Security tests on the internet:
Internet browser:
http://www.safersurf.com/english/computerbetrug/test_browser.html
eMail program:
http://www.safersurf.com/english/computerbetrug/test_email.html