Zombie PC Prevention Bill to make security software mandatory
Summary: South Korea's recently proposed Zombie PC Prevention Bill, aims to fight botnets with common sense - by making security software mandatory on users' PCs.
How do you fight botnets? With rationalism, or with radicalism?
South Korea's recently proposed Zombie PC Prevention Bill, aims to fight them with common sense - by making security software mandatory on users' PCs. What's particularly interesting about the bill, is the backdoor left open, empowering the government to “examine the details of the business, records, documents and others” of users and companies who do not comply.
More details on the bill:
- to impose a statutory duty on every citizen to install and to use security software pursuant to the Presidential Decree to be issued under the Act
- to confer on the government department (Korea Communications Commission; KCC) the power to ban or to allow the business of those security solution providers which KCC chooses to ban or to allow according to certain criteria
- to make the security solution providers to focus on winning the favor of government officials (through lobbying) rather than winning the consumers in the market through competition and innovation of product quality
- to empower the KCC agents, without a warrant, to “examine the details of the business, records, documents and others” of anyone upon mere suspicion that the person (individual or company) has violated the duty to use security software
In the past there have been numerous cases of enforced best practices, or how the lack of such may lead to unpleasant results:
- End users without security software cannot file fraud claims for their E-banking accounts
- Commonwealth got fined $100k for not mandating security software on its PCs
- Citizens Financial got sued for lack of sufficient E-banking security measures
What the MPs seem to have forgotten is the fact that antivirus software only mitigates a certain percentage of the risk, and is only part of a well developed defense in depth strategy. Multiple independent reports and tests show that despite that users are running antivirus software, they still get infected with malware.
What do you think is the best way to fight botnets? Rationalism or radicalism. Is running security software a duty, or has the time come for ISPs to take care of their own backyards.
TalkBack.
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Talkback
RE: Zombie PC Prevention Bill to make security software mandatory
And it won't work.
Unless you get rid of the weak link (AKA: The User), this will only enrich the people that make security software.
Actually, it would be easier to just outlaw Windows. No need for Win32
That's stupid. Lets bankrupt a company by taking away
Windows and give them Linux instead. May as well give them a pad of paper and a pencil to run their businesses on.
RE: Zombie PC Prevention Bill to make security software mandatory
It would be pointless. They'll just start attacking the next platform that comes in.
Guys, the only redeeming feature of Windows is Win32, and that is fading
Fading away?
Odd, I don't see it fading away.
Rat's Nest? I heard of that, it's the next incarnation of Ubuntu.
:)
RE: Zombie PC Prevention Bill to make security software mandatory
Donnieboy, All platforms are vulnerable.
Instead of banning Win32 lets not give the sudo password out to users for they will get infected. Malware for phones is taking off and they run a Unix variant on a RISC Arm processor. You are not very logical.
Not at all
It would put you out of job shilling for Micro$oft, and that would be awesome.
RE: Zombie PC Prevention Bill to make security software mandatory
Although Windows is the biggest target for spyware, ect, no operating system is 100% secure. Attackers would just move to the next big target.
RE: Zombie PC Prevention Bill to make security software mandatory
seriously? get a grip on reality!
i've worked network security for more than 10 years. i do not care what the target is, if the attacker believes there is sufficient value to compromising the target, the attacker will attack with whatever channels are available, and no system is impervious. it is a constant cat-and-mouse game between the attackers and the defenders. having been on both sides of that game to some extent, i say this from direct experience.
and when all is said and done, no matter what the OS is, the single weakest chink in the armor is the user, and the human tendency to choose convenience over security because it is easier.
Agreed!
The problem is not technically inept users (like here), but an operating system with more holes than any other in the history of IT.
Of course, nobody will admit this, there's too much money to make on the second rate platform. :-/
Different shades of hell
RE: Zombie PC Prevention Bill to make security software mandatory
RE: Zombie PC Prevention Bill to make security software mandatory
Of course, the same republican party that says it want to keep government out of our lives also wants to make it illegal to have abortions.
Mandating security software is not the answer. Even if all the backdoors in all OSes were plugged, users are still overriding the security software to install things that were emailed to them, or that they found at some random site.
It sounds to me like this is both a money making scheme on the part of the South Korean government and a power grab. The software companies will have to curry favor with the politicians, probably through a mixture of public fees and private "contributions." Also, this allows the government to access any part of any computer they want, without any due process.
South Korean government/politicians 100
Private businesses/individuals 0
FTH
RE: Zombie PC Prevention Bill to make security software mandatory
@fromthehip - nonsense. They don't want to make abortions illegal, They just want the murder laws applied equitably. The same democrat party that says it wants to keep abortion legal wants to keep hanging black people illegal; how inconsistent of them.
Odd how democrats who howl about keeping the ability for women to be irresponsible through murder have no qualms about seatbelt laws, although the same argument (it's *my body*) applies.
So, apparently, the republicans are consistently consistent, and the democrats are consistently inconsistent.
RE: Zombie PC Prevention Bill to make security software mandatory
"The same democrat party that says it wants to keep abortion legal wants to keep hanging black people illegal; how inconsistent of them."
You seem to have things backward there. Democrats have a higher tendency to be minorities and the racists (you know, the ones that do the hangin') tend to show up on the Republican (not just conservative because conservative Rupublican is about as oxymoronic as military intelligence) camp. You DO show the conservative (not just Republican) tendency to argue with something, just for the sake of argument, even when you're wrong.
They should make OS X mandatary
RE: Zombie PC Prevention Bill to make security software mandatory