Despite consorted efforts to detect and block one of the world’s most dangerous forms of malware, security experts predict the Conficker worm will continue to deactivate security defenses and wreck havoc on computer networks throughout 2010. That’s bad news for security professionals who are actively doing everything they can to protect their networks from more harmful botnets and malware.
In the article, “Conficker Expects to Dominate Botnets and Malware in 2010″, some of the industry’s top security experts say that perpetrators will continue to use Conficker to collapse PCs, block users from accessing certain websites, cause hazardous security breaches, and spread its infection in 2010. And as Conficker continues to evolve and gets more sophisticated, there may be nothing security managers can do to completely stop it.
While understanding the way cyber criminals work is good advice, stopping them at the outset like Neustar senior technologist, Rodney Joffe, suggests will not effectively stop criminals from taking new approaches to spreading the virus. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. And fraudsters are becoming more innovative every day.
With many anti-virus technologies still focused on detecting new forms of malware from entering their networks, as the article suggests, more complex Web-based malware is making it harder to do so. Instead of trying to keep up with cyber criminals who continue to re-invent the game, organizations need to focus on strengthening their own systems. They need to build a security defense that’s not based on criminals making the rules, but making their own rules to better protect their IT infrastructures. Application whitelisting is one such solution that puts organizations in control of their own network security by simply not allowing any unauthorized software to run on their network.