Insufficient effort in security...

[s0nIc]

After checking the statisic figure.. i have noticed that there is a HUGE number of MS windows users that are very vulnerable to attacks..

Statistic shows only 40% of MS Windows users regularly go to microsoft affiliated websites and check for patches.

and 50% have no idea what a patch is..

the rest 10% have downloaded a patch probably once or twice..

MS doesnt seem to know how to spread this information efficiently.. it seems that only those who are fairly computer litterate people knows about these patches..

people who just go online to check e-mails or check their bank accounts or stocks... or even those who work online cant be bothered to download these patches or even equip their computer with a firewall.. it is either because they dont have the time for it or they dont know how to do it or what they are..

So why dont we all help them out.. i know this is a long shot but it may decrease the flaw of internet securities.. and if you know anyone who uses MS Windows, it could be your friends, friend's parents, relatives or any person u know who uses the MS Windows in their PC day to day.. please ask them if they downloaded patches lately...

and do also ask them to download firewalls..

its those little things we do that addus up into a really big thing...

[Tenaga]

Nice perception/post s0nIc. You have a very good point and the statistics to back it up. Sadly enough, I am one of those people who don't regulary check for patches. I've gotten one before and havent bothered since. This is a good post for the newbies to see and learn from.

[Matty_Cross]

Good Post Sonic....

You have my entire agreement on the matter here, although there are people which cause a lot of problem who know what a patch is.. but they don't care about applying them....

You may have noticed my new signature.. this signature can be related to this matter quite well...

"We must all fear evil men. But there is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men."

The evil men... these are your script kiddies and other bad people who want to damage your systems......

The good men.. these range from your user who knows his stuff, to the sys admins...
Their indifference?? not patching their systems, not running antivirus software.. making everything so much messier...

So many of the people I know.. smart people doing things like Comp. Sci. @ University... they don't run any AV, they don't have a firewall... they don't update their systems....

This makes them a problem, as they are willingly making it easier for the evil men....

and I'm rambling, so I'm off..

P.S.. I'm an overzealous updater.. my AV auto-updates every morning, scans every morning.... Methinks I go too far...

[s0nIc]

hehe same.. i update my AV regularly.. check for new patches everyday.. and do a full system scann when i go to bed..

[darkes]

Curious to know where the stats came from (not that I think they are wrong). I think that is mainly why MS intoduced the auto updating feature in WindowsXP. Don't know what the stats of home users vs office users of MS software are, but I suspect most are home users.
Most companies who use MS do have decent hardware firewalls & AV scanners in place, amongst other things, and also check for MS security updates on a regular basis.
Whereas a lot of home users buy a PC in much the same way as you would buy a TV, car etc. WindowsXP has flaws which can be exploited, but potentially it could be a step in the right direction.
Even on versions prior to XP, it was possible to run the 'critical update' service (very simple - just used the MS scheduler) which polled for critical updates on a regular basis (e.g. 15 mins). All these approaches mean you are reliant on MS to provide the updates in a timely manner of course ....

I don't think Matty is being overzealous - on my PC at home I always make sure that my AV scanner is updated before receiving any emails.