They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist... - General John Sedgwick
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Avast! 6.0 aims to stop malware once it is installed
INSECURITY FIRM Avast Software has declared it can give your computer's hard drive a safe zone and unsurprisingly has called the Avast! 6.0 feature exactly that, Safezone.
Perhaps a safer place than the US military's green zone in the centre of Baghdad and more exciting than Matt Damon's 2009 movie, Avast describes its Safezone as a virtualized desktop. Safezone will come with paid versions of Avast! 6.0 including Avast! Pro and Avast! Internet Security suite.
This virtualised desktop is also described as an "inside out" sandbox that apparently stops malware from sending your personal data out into the big wide world. What is a bit worrying is that Avast seems to accept that computers are already compromised, which makes The INQUIRER wonder about what previous security products actually had to offer.
Ondrej Vlcek, Avast Software CTO said, "This is really a 180 degree change in philosophy as we've long focused on keeping malware from getting in. Now we can also keep malware from taking any information out."
You'd never imagine that a security firm would want to make anyone feel insecure, would you? But nevertheless Avast's description of Safezone on its website is a little worrying.
It says that while Internet users can have the option of secure DNS or HTTPS connections multiple layers within websites makes all this secure stuff a complicated process. Apparently that is enough to allow a vulnerability that is critical for banking and shopping online to occur.
Good heavens, now we're terrified of any and all websites and any security software must be a plus. But how secure is that website to download it from? µ
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You can count on it. If you use Internet Explorer for Web browsing, you are probably infected. If you open PDF or PPS/PPT files from email, you are probably infected. If you click on banner ads like "Punch the Monkey," you are not merely infected, you are a right thick git and shouldn't be allowed to play with anything more complex than a stock and a string.
PCs are infected because (1) McAfee and Norton come preinstalled on most of them, and they are crap, and; (2) people don't know how to protect themselves.
Spybot Search and Destroy has a similar functionality, it vaccins your PC against potential threats. Although I like Spybot and use it. Malware gets through it. I wish Avast claims are true, I will follow up on this one.