Google down Malware, Find out Infected Sites - or Just Think about Security
Numerous web sites allow their users to upload and store binary files — that’s pictures, movies, executables, anything not text.
Word is out that Websense took advantage of Google’s binary search capability to indentify malware (trojans, worms, virii). Couple thousand sites already found hosting pest — most of them unsuspecting. The virus finder application is not available to the public for obvious reasons: attackers using it to easily muster new weapons, or virus authors twisting it in order to turn it against users.
Two conclusions are to be learned from here: the bad news and the good news.
1. The bad news is that so far you’re gonna keep using what everyone else and their mother are using (aka. ‘that’ OS), chances are significant to catch a virus and live with it while sharing all your secrets with the world.
2. The good news is that Google shows visible signs of launching its search over to the binary files vast domain. So far, Google indexes only text pages (and photos) all over the web; shortly you’ll have the option to google for binaries: executables, programs, plugins, widgets, etc. Gradually the border between your hard disk and the web will vanish — thanks in part to the Google new binary files search feature.
In the while, the best you can do is figuring out what makes or breaks security on computers you’re basing your small business success on: why competing operating systems are different, not just in pricing and marketing and appearance, but in respect to their inner software architecture, the layers beneath the glossy user interface. You need a bit of learning curve beyond reading marketing stuff from the vendor. Don’t ask the vendor about quality and performance, better do some research for yourself, get info from independent sources. Here’s a tips list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Macintosh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM
Happy reading!
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