Fighting the Hidden Dangers of Internet Access

Fighting The Hidden Dangers
Of Internet Access Fighting The Hidden Dangers of Internet Access Table of Contents Introduction Part 1 Spyware Part 2 Phishing Part 3 Pharming Part 4 Strategic Solution
3 Copyright ©2005 St. Bernard Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Fighting The Hidden Dangers of Internet Access
Introduction Objectionable Content isn't the Only Threat
In today's business environment, it's difficult to imagine a workplace without access to
the Web. Yet, much of the information available to employees on the Internet is not job
related. What started as a productivity boon has gradually turned into a bandwidth and
productivity drain with huge potential legal liabilities associated with inappropriate use of the Internet by employees. Huge lawsuits have resulted from employees downloading pornographic, racist or violent material from the Internet. In addition, network security can be compromised by the introduction of viruses, worms or Trojans through your Internet access. It seems the old threat that plagued HTTP traffic, inappropriate content, is no longer the only concern for IT administrators. In addition to worms and viruses, your Internet
A recent study by America Online access is a gateway for all sorts of other threats such as spyware, malware, phishing and the National Center for and pharming. These unwanted programs are propagating at a rapid rate. Even if you Supercomputing Applications found manage to stop one threat, new ones are cropping up daily, to take its place. Recently that 80 percent of PCs were infected by some form of spyware, legislation was introduced in the United States to offer organizations relief from some of and each infected PC had an these attacks. But as was discovered with the CAN-SPAM Act, these laws are more average 90 different spyware likely to drive cyber criminals offshore. And with the amount of money being made from packages installed. even isolated attacks, it is not surprising that organized crime would be involved in launching highly sophisticated attacks that exploit an organizations need to have online availability to do business. In response, organizations have sought ways to proactively control Web access, drivingthe development of a variety of Web filtering methodologies. However, the emergence and growth of new Internet content, combined with the need for simple network installation and straightforward ways to effectively manage large user communities, has made most of these alternatives too cumbersome to employ in a corporate environment. And without the ability to control the invasion of spyware and malware, filtering objectionable content alone won't protect your organization. This eBook attempts to present some of the growing threats that exploit your organization's Internet access and to demonstrate how a dedicated appliance solution like iPrism can secure your network and prevent the downtime, loss of productivity and other problems associated with unmanaged Internet access.
4 Copyright ©2005 St. Bernard Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Fighting The Hidden Dangers of Internet Access
Part 1 Spyware can be Tougher than Viruses
Spyware began as and continues to be a controversial subject. Companies such as Weatherbug prefer the term adware and are averse to any portrayal of their agents as malicious intruders. They consider their business practices to be legitimate and another form of marketing. But one thing they cannot argue with is that spyware is widespread and it's growing.
Works like a Mole According to a recent article in Security Pipeline, "In the world of espionage, spyware is closest to a mole. A mole will avoid any activity that might blow his cover; similarly, spyware applications are often content to hide on your system." That's one way to distinguish them - they are usually not intentionally downloaded and they hide, often residing secretly as just another data link library (DLL) file or registry setting. Sixty-five percent of businesses--big and small--surveyed by Personal Data at Risk Forrester Research said they plan Spyware stays in it's hiding place, making eradication almost impossible while it to put money into protecting ... [download for more]