Every day that you go on the Internet there is a chance that you could unknowingly come in contact with malware. Malware authors have become quite inventive over the past few years. Using Google image search hacks to spread malware was a very effective campaign that delivered fake anti-virus earlier this month. Social media scams have also gained in popularity and generally lead the innocent victim to sites that can lead to malware and trickery.
According to Microsoft “One in every 14 downloads is a piece of malware.”
The Wall Street Journal reports:
Traditional antivirus techniques have relied on identifying the piece of malware and blocking it, but that relies on the antivirus software identifying the code.
Hackers use a technique called “server side polymorphism” to generate different strains, which makes detection much harder. White-listing and black-listing will only cover a small percentage of downloads. The problem lies in the space between.
Antivirus companies have to consistently remain on the defensive when combating the ever-evolving complexity and sheer volume of malware on the Internet today. The cybercriminal industry operates under a premium business model that spends a great deal of money on research and development along with hiring professional coders to produce malware that is geared to escape real-time detection.
Geoff Webb of eSecurity Planet made a very keen observation yesterday about traditional approaches to stopping malware:
The fact is that traditional approaches to stopping malware, such as relying on signature-based anti-virus, no longer provide sufficient protection. It’s too easy for malware authors to write code that is able to avoid detection and operate successfully well below the anti-virus radar. Attackers can modify existing malware slightly, add new functionality where needed, and enhance their ability to avoid detection with little effort using readily available tools. [Source]
So what is the solution? It is obvious that relying on one solution alone to detect all Internet threats is not enough. The digital landscape has changed and the concept of adopting a layered security approach is a good idea. Cocoon, a Firefox plug-in is an awesome addition to add to your Internet toolkit. Once logged in, Cocoon acts as a filter between you and the Internet by taking Internet content and translating it into a virus-free format. During this process the Internet does not interact with your computer, instead it interacts with Cocoon servers so that malware does not touch your computer. Goodbye malware. Hello Cocoon!
The Internet as it should be: Private, Secure and Malware-Free.
You can find out more about Cocoon at GetCocoon.com
Stop by and say hello on Twitter and Facebook too – The Cocoon Team!
