PEBKAC Still Plagues PC Security

Billosaur writes "ARS Technica is reporting on a study release by McAfee and the National Cyber Security Alliance (as part of the beginning of National Cyber Security Awareness Month) that suggests when it comes to PC security, the problem between the keyboard and the chair is even worse. PEBKAC has always been a problem, but the study highlights just how prevalent it has become. 87 percent of the users contacted said they used anti-virus software, while 70 percent use anti-spyware software. Fewer (64 percent) reported having their firewalls turned on, and only 27 percent use software designed to stop phishing attempts. Researchers were allowed to scan the computers of a subset of the users, and while 70 percent claimed to be using anti-spyware software, only 55 percent of the machines of those users scanned showed evidence of the software."

Re:PEBKAC? Why not PBKAC?

[Anonymous Coward]

Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair...

Re:Are you sure?

[kwark]

You are wrong on some points

1. you don't need to be root to cause trouble to others.
2. the executable flag doesn't control if things are runnable:
$ gcc -o hello ./hello.c
$ chmod a-x ./hello
$ /lib/ld-2.3.6.so ./hello
Hello World!
3. maybe.
4. we are talking about PEBKAC here, it involves some social engineering to get
5. I personally doubt it, the more mainstream linux becomes, the relative number of developers among them will drop.

But I hope you are right (maybe I'm just pessimistic).

Re:Perhaps the real problem...

[wellingj]

One day, we'll look back at PC security of today and laugh at the crap one had to go through just to not have your typical PC go down in flames.
...Could be tomorrow if you downloaded an .iso [debian.org] tonight.

Re:My Theory: XP can work, but not with kids

[rtechie]

I not convinced I can set up an XP machine that can't be infected by them.

Removing Administrator rights in XP stops 98% of possible malware infections, since it's difficult to install ANYTHING. You can even have them use IE 7 safely because they won't be able to install ActiveX controls and the JVM is likely to flip out given the rare possibility of a Java exploit.

Of course, they can't install anything. And you might run into the occasional app that requires Administrator rights. I strongly suggest you don't use these apps because it is network-aware apps with lousy coding practices that are often the security issue in Windows, not Windows per se.

And with Policies you can do all sorts of crazy enforcement if you really want, like not letting them login after bedtime.

Re:PICNIC

[complete loony]

ID-TEN-T error.
There's a nut loose on your keyboard.
OSI Layer 8 error.
There's heaps of ways to describe the problem.

Re:And the solution is...

[Von Helmet]

If you want to stop using IE altogether, you can use Windizupdate, which works with Firefox and Opera, and possibly a couple of other browsers.