magazine

OPINION: GRAHAM CLULEY
IT security shouldn’t just
be something on your hard
drive – it should be part of
a global immune system
When I first started working for
an IT security company in 1992,
you’d get your software updates
on floppy disks. They were sent
out every three months. If you
were really paranoid, you went
for the monthly updates. Viruses
took months to spread around the
world – via floppy disk. There were
200 new viruses a month – and
we thought that was pretty bad.
Now, of course, we see 100,000
new variants of malware a day. As
soon as money became involved,
it became industrialized – and I
have to say, some of the fun went
out of being a virus researcher.
Back in the old days viruses weren’t
made to make money – they were just
graffiti. They could cost you money
– but the point would be the letters
falling down your screen, or a graphic
of an ambulance driving across. There
was an artistry there – something
I blogged about a while ago.
Many viruses were also unique – even
if they were destructive. I remember a
polymorphic infection from the early
days – where the writer was so keen to
make a British piece of malware. The
SMEG Pathogen virus, named after a
crude word used in the British TV comedy
20 welivesecurity.com