Background
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One thing laymen will often overlook when questioning the prevalence and persistence of malicious programs is that the Internet is global, there are no borders or boundaries. This needs to be taken into consideration by any entity wishing to enhance online security. “One of the reasons anti-spam legislation has so little effect is that most spam comes from overseas. Laws attempting to regulate anonymity will fail for similar reasons” (Schneier, 2009). New York Institute of Technology’s President Edward Guiliano, Ph.D. agreed with the fact that internet security enhancement needs to focus on the global aspect. At the first Cyber Security Conference on Sept. 15, 2010, he “explained the need for leaders in academia, security, and government agencies to collaboratively combat cyber security attacks on a global scale. ‘Logic has enabled the wonders of computer networks and the Internet, and is now a threatening explosive able to bring down the electrical grid, shut down ATMs, paralyze Wall Street, steal identities, and hamstring military forces,’ he said. ‘Developed nations are more vulnerable to these attacks than less developed nations. Now, for the first time in history, low-tech is a battlefield advantage’" (Computers, Networks & Communications, 2010).
And now, there are even newer and sneakier kinds of malicious programs being introduced into the cyber world. “Cascading pop-ups. Web page re-directs. Crawling computer speeds. Anyone who’s been online has surely experienced the effects of spyware. A few years ago, organizations were mainly concerned with things like adware and cookies that track a user’s surfing habits. But spyware is becoming increasingly pernicious and sophisticated. Monitoring software, which is sometimes placed directly on computers and at other times is installed via Trojan horse or by automatic Web site download, can log keystrokes or send periodic screen shots back to attackers. Such applications, sometimes combined with ‘common word’ technology, are increasingly stealing users’ financial and other personal information. According to a Kaspersky Lab report, key loggers surged 500 percent in a recent three-and-a-half-year period. To fight this ongoing threat, the major antispyware vendors have rolled out products that use heuristics and signatures to identify, then either block or disable spyware, essentially taking a ‘blacklisting’ approach. However, as some IT security professionals discovered, there are other solutions. In recent years, some software companies have started bucking this blacklisting approach, opting instead for a solution that ‘whitelists’ the applications and executables that can run on workstations. In other cases, medium-sized businesses, which have typically relied on desktop security software and single-point network products, are finding they can afford more comprehensive perimeter solutions” (Wagley, 2008).