Rob Clymo: Columnist - Tech & Gadgets
The Clymo Brief: Next gen viruses
Read more from columnist Rob Clymo here

Having just sailed triumphantly past its 15th birthday, there can be little doubt the world wide web has changed our lives for the better. But it’s more important than ever to stay safe online.

Feature: 15 years of the world wide web

Cyber crime is rampant, with virus attacks and scam emails a daily occurrence. Even trusted web sites can be open to hijack, where clicking on an apparently straightforward link can direct us to fake pages with dark ulterior motives.

Internet security is a red-hot topic, and two conferences in the last fortnight have indicated how the battle against online crime is progressing. Internet World, held at Earl’s Court, featured over 300 exhibitors, 200 hours of seminars and a whopping 20 keynote speeches.

But down the road at Olympia there was Infosecurity 2008. This was a far more interesting knockabout, offering a captivating insight into cyber crime activities. It was possible to rub shoulders with journalists from organisations such as the BBC and Al Jazeera, while eavesdropping on whispered conversations between shadowy figures from the subversive world of computer hacking.

'Drive-by' downloads
There were some unnerving stories circulating too. Data supermarkets are growing in number on a daily basis. These dubious online outlets enable anyone to purchase all manner of valuable information. Credit card details, personal profiles, medical records and company accounts are all widely available if you know where to look.

Increasingly common is the ‘drive-by’ download. This is the installation of spyware, malware or even a virus without your knowledge. You’re most likely to get caught out by clicking on an apparently innocuous pop-up window. Then there are rootkits – small malware programs that can take control of your PC. Alongside well-established daily headaches like phishing attempts and spyware attacks, it means you have to constantly stay on your toes.
So can off-the-shelf anti-virus and internet security packages save us? Most of us look to these applications to get the job done. Unfortunately, in my experience, they don’t work very well.

Over the years I’ve tried most and the majority have driven me to distraction, usually by slowing my machine down to a crawl. Then, if they actually manage to find something to get flustered about, the program often fails to remove it.

Anti-virus armoury
I got a worm on my PC a while ago which rendered it effectively useless. McAfee Security Suite successfully spotted it. Well done. Unfortunately it couldn’t get rid of the thing. The only way I could do that was search the web until I found a fabulous free utility program that did the job for me.

After that experience and frustrated with the big names in anti-virus, I installed the free version of AVG anti-virus software. It’s been around for donkeys’ years and offers only basic protection but a big bonus is that it doesn’t hinder performance.
AVG had a modest stand at both Internet World and InfoSec and, along with a free mug and lots of enthusiasm, they gave me the long-awaited version 8.0 of their Internet Security package to try.

It’s a far cry from earlier incarnations, boasting a dazzling array of tools for cracking cyber-crime including anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam and firewall options. A full-on facelift means it looks nicer for starters. Better still, its reworked engine scans your machine even less intrusively than before. Viruses and spyware are now dealt with in a single pass, which reduces the drain on system resources.

Safe searching
More interestingly, there’s LinkScanner. This plug-in integrates with your web browser and scans search results returned by Live Search, Yahoo! and Google. A clear red-cross warning appears alongside potential threats, while a green tick tells you the link is good to go.

It’s very similar to SiteAdvisor from McAfee, which incidentally, Yahoo! has just directly integrated into its site. If you’re an uneasy novice surfer or have kids who need supervision when online then this is an absolute must-have.
There’s also a natty WebShield module, which scans files that are downloaded or exchanged over ICQ or Windows Live Messenger. All things considered, this is a very decent successor to its decrepit earlier version. A single user licence costs £39.99 while a tenner extra gets you a licence for two machines.

So will AVG successfully fend off all those threats posed by dodgy web sites and fraudulent emails? Sadly, no. “The only 100 percent reliable internet security solution is to disconnect your computer from the internet,” says Larry Bridwell, global security strategist at AVG.

Next generation
“One of the main potential problems right now is increasing mobility,” he adds. “For example, business intelligence and customer relationship management applications are appearing for smart phone use. Such applications allow people to access documents while on the move, and, thanks to IP-based "next generation networks" (NGN), they can always be reached on the same number.
“As with all new applications, care needs to be taken to build in security from the start if they are not to be prey to exploits in the future.

“Web 2.0 is also important. A lot of effort is being invested in interactive and collaborative entities such as communities, wikis, blogs and social bookmarking services. These are all potential areas of risk going forward.”

Whatever protection you choose, the bottom line is to remain vigilant. If in doubt, give that tempting link or email a miss. Nevertheless, I’m keeping AVG 8.0 running on my machine, which is more than can be said for Norton, McAfee et al…


Recent columns from Rob Clymo:
The charitable computer
High definition holidays

All Rob Clymo's columns for Tech & Gadgets

Rob Clymo is a journalist employed on a freelance basis by Microsoft. The views in this article are those of the author and not of MSN or Microsoft.