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Why Just Using Anti-Virus Software Can Not Keep Your Computer System Safe and Secure Anymore Why You Need A Full Service Security Solution, Like ESET Smart Security, To Keep Your Computer Systems Secure From Threats.
Complete Transcript of Interview – Randy Abrams - ESET
Let's Talk Computers Radio Talk Show
Host Alan Ashendorf
August 13 2011
Alan: Malware threats today can attack us in all types of ways – by clicking on something in an e-mail or just by opening e-mail or by surfing the Internet. In order to keep us, as well as our computer systems safe, we can't just rely on anti-virus protection anymore. What we really need is a security solution that provides full protection for all types of malware.
So today on Let's Talk Computers, we will explore some of the ways that malware can attack us and what we can do to protect ourselves and our computer systems. It's our pleasure to have as our guest again, Randy Abrams, Director of Technical Education with ESET. Welcome back to Let's Talk Computers, Randy.
Randy: Hi, Alan. Thanks for having me back. It's great to be here.
Alan: Well, Randy, it's safe to say that gone are the days that all you need to have is anti-virus protection on your computer system to keep you safe. You really need to have a security protection solution that will protect you from all types of threats, not just Viruses, but from phishing attacks and from trojans. Any program that you download on the Internet can be malicious and it needs to be looked at as if it is a threat.
There are so many different ways that our computer system can be attacked. It doesn't have to be on the Internet and it doesn't have to be by e-mail. We've seen some cases, even with large corporations who were passing out USB thumb drives at a conference at a conference. And that ended up being a carrier of malware. We have to protect ourselves from everywhere, don't we?
Randy: Yes. I was actually at that conference. It was authored in Australia and IBM had a booth there and they were handing out thumb drives and the thumb drives had a couple of trojans on them that they were handing out.
Additionally, a short time later I was at a security conference that at which I was presenting. I gave my USB drive to the AV audio, visual technician to put on the presentation computer. So he plugged it into the computer, he copied my presentation and then he gave me back my USB drive. Well, I checked it and the presentation computer was infected with an Autorun virus and it had copied the virus onto my USB drive – which is part of the reason I don't use Autorun, I've got it disabled on my computer!
Alan: That could really make your day! You think that you are working with a well-known company and all of a sudden you plug something in and it takes over your computer!
Randy: A lot of the malware that we see is based on Windows Autorun functionality. So it's going to try to get in that way. Stuxnet, which has been in the news, used a different vulnerability, but still plugging in a USB drive, even without Autorun enabled, would infect your computer. And if you aren't current on your patches and if you haven't patched against the vulnerability that Stuxnet used, you are actually still vulnerable to that attack and you won't even know that you got infected.
Alan: Well, let's just take Stuxnet, for instance and how does that affect your computer?
Randy: Stuxnet, specifically, only had a malicious payload, if you will, for some control systems. These are the control systems for power plants, utility companies, nuclear power plants, things like that.
However, the tactics that Stuxnet used can be used by other viruses that would do things like install bots on your computer, steal information, like if it gets onto the accounting computer it might capture the banking information; install a keystroke logger, so when you log onto your bank it got your user name and password.
A lot of banks use alternate methods, like pictures and things like that and there is malicious software that will do Screen Captures. So it will defeat those defense mechanisms because it has got a picture of what's going on in your computer.
I would say probably patching is the second most critical thing a business can do to protect itself; with the first most critical thing being to educate yourselves; get more information; learn more about security.
Alan: Yes, we talk all the time about education – you can't stress it enough because there are so many people, especially in a small business, that just take security for granted. They think, “Nobody is going to bother us! We're just a small company and we're not going to be bothered. The odds of somebody hacking into our system are just so astronomical, so why bother?” And yet, it's not personal, is it?
Randy: No, it's not personal. A lot of this malware is completely untargeted; it spreads very, very well and the fact that you are online makes you a target.
Alan: A lot of people don't realize that gone are the days where you had a standalone computer and this is all it did was bookkeeping or all it did was some kind of accounting or spreadsheets. Everything is interconnected, even your mobile phones. All it takes is just one little something to get onto that info structure and every thing can be compromised – and very quickly, too, can't it?
Randy: Computers have gotten really, really fast. I've got Motorola DROID 2 and I was looking at the specifications of it. The microprocessor on this phone is 40 times faster than the microprocessor in my first PC. It has got 128 times more memory, more RAM than my first PC. It has got, hundreds and hundreds of times more storage than the hard drive on my first PC.
These are very, very fast computers and computers have gotten very, very fast compared to the old days and that allows for a lot faster spread of malware, too.
Alan: We need to look at some the anti-virus, anti-malware software that is out there. There are some that are free and there are some that really don't do what they need to do to protect you. You see them and you see them everywhere!
And then you have software like ESET, where this is your main business. This is all you do, is to protect us. And so you spend all of your time making sure you have the best software out there, don't you?
Randy: We do. We don't have stockholders that we are responsible to. We are responsible to our customers. We recommend our software to our parents and to our sisters and our brothers, so we want it to be at the highest quality that is available and that's what we focus on doing.
Alan: But you have two different versions. You have anti-malware software, which is ESET Smart NOD32 and then you have your all-in-one package that is ESET Smart Security. What is the difference and why should I go with one over the other?
Randy: ESET NOD32 is your basic malware protection. If, for some reason you want to use a different firewall, different anti-spam product, then if you've got that covered, then NOD32 gives you the best heuristics and signature combined protection against things like spyware, adware, viruses, trojans, rootkits, and dialers, your typical malware.
If you want the ease and convenience of single package that handles your anti-malware and also includes a personal firewall and built-in anti-spam protection, then ESET Smart Security is the choice for you.
Alan: So many people go out and they buy like anti-virus software from X-y-z Company and then they buy anti-threat software from A-b-c Company and now you have multiple programs that are running. A program that is running like that is actually consuming a lot of your resources. It makes more sense to me to have one company with software that knows all parts of what's going on to protect me, doesn't it?
Randy: Yes, it does. For a lot of us, that's the decision that we make, however there are some people that want to be able to pick and choose each part for whatever reasons they want. And really, it is a choice and we have to respect the customer's choice. We give them the choice to take the anti-malware protection with NOD32 and we also give them a choice to simplify their lives, streamline the process using a fully integrated solution that takes care of their firewall, their anti-spam, and their anti-malware in the Smart Security package.
Alan: Well, let's say we have a virus and we want to find out more information. You actually detail a lot of these viruses on your Website, don't you? Right. There is the Threat Encyclopedia that has a lot of them, but there is no way that we can possibly keep everything up-to-date on that.
Knowing what the latest viruses isn't nearly as important as knowing what you need to do to protect yourself against all threats, because any time you are focusing on one, specific virus – that's like saying, “I'm going to cross the street and I'm going to watch out for Hondas, pretending like Toyotas, Fords, Hyundai and Lexus and stuff like that can't cause just as much harm if you step out in front if you step out in front of them.
So, I don't really pay too much attention to single threats unless I've got to answer some specific question about it because it doesn't really matter. What matters is that you know how to protect yourself against all of those threats.
Alan: Yes, that's where heuristics is so important on your machine, because if everybody in the world had a dark trench coat and wore a black hat and looked like a thief and looked like somebody you don't want to associate with, that would be a great world. But the ones that are trying to scam you or con you, they look just like everybody else, don't they?
Randy: They try to convince you that they are your friends on Facebook or on Twitter or whatever. They steal your friends' e-mail account and pretend like they are your friends, so that's the thing is they might be wearing a dark trench coat and look really shady, but you don't see them, anyway.
Alan: What are we looking at as far as the cost of ESET Smart Security and ESET NOD32 software?
Randy: That can depend how many computers you are buying it for and how long you are buying it. For one PC a one-year subscription is $59.99. If you buy a two-year license then its $89.99, which saves you 25%. There are other discounts like for two PCs; the one-year license is $69.99, where one PC is $59.99. Again, there is like a 25% discount going with two years.
For the ESET Smart NOD32, which is just the basic anti-malware; anti-spyware; anti-adware; anti-virus; anti-trojan; anti-rootkit, the malware protection. The one-year license is $39.99 for one PC. It's $59.99 for two PCs. For one PC a two-year license is $58.99.
You can go to http://www.eset.com and look at the products and there is a breakdown. You can contact ESET if you are a corporation using more than four PCs to find out volume pricing for your corporate needs.
Alan: And you have different flavors, that are not just for PCs, don't you?
Randy: Exactly. We make protection for not only Windows, but also for MAC. For a long, long time we've had ESET NOD32 for Linux machines. We also provide protections for Exchange Servers.
ESET also has mobile malware protection. We don't currently support the iPhone or the Android, but we cover Windows Mobile and Symbian devices. If you haven't looked recently at product offering, take a look at http://www.eset.com. We've got a nice range of products there.
Alan: And you also have Trialware. These are full-featured Trialware. You don't strip them down and “Try it and if you see that it's taken a virus out then you pay me for it.” These are full-featured Trialware, aren't they?
Randy: Exactly. It's the full product with, essentially a 30-day license. Anything that our regular product can do your demo product can do – because it is our regular product! And then if at the end of 30 days you decide that you want to purchase a license you don't download new software. You get the license key and use the same software you downloaded because it's fully functional. It's just like having a 30-day license so that you can evaluate the software and try it and see if it's what you like.
Alan: And during those 30 days, you get full updates and sometimes you send out updates daily to make sure that we're protected, don't you?
Randy: Usually there's at least a few updates a day so it's pretty rare that a day goes by that doesn't have at least one update and generally there's two to four, sometimes more. It depends on what's happening. Trial software gets updated just like the regular software because it is the regular software. It's just a time-limited trial.
Alan: You mentioned that education is the key and I know on your Website you have all types of White Papers, talking about viruses and different ways that can infect your computer system and you also have copies of all the transcripts that we have done together.
Alan: You mentioned at education is the key. And I know on your Website you have all types of White Papers, talking about viruses and the different ways that they can infect your computer system. You also have copies of all of the transcripts that we have done together!
Randy: These are excellent resources that people can use to educate themselves and learn more. We also have the blog and just recently I started a series about Adobe Flash, because a lot of people don't understand that Adobe Flash can seriously compromise your privacy. If you go out to our blog, you can also learn a lot more about a variety of different threats and how to deal with them.
Alan: And if I want to find out more information, what Website should I visit?
Randy: Come visit http://www.eset.com and also for educational purposes, check out http://www.securingourecity.com. This is an effort that that ESET and several companies, private and public are providing to simply provide education.
When you go to http://www.securingourecity.com, Website you are not going to get product pitches; there's no link to buy here – it's pure education!
Alan: Well, Randy, it looks like we've run out of time. And today on Let's Talk Computers, we looked at many of the ways that our computer system can be affected. And we looked at why keeping your computer system safe and secure is not just having anti-virus protection software, anymore and why you really need a full service security solution like ESET Smart Security to keep us, as well as our computer system secure and safe.
And I look forward to continuing this conversation on what we need to know in order to keep our computer system and us safe, next time.
Randy: Well, thank you, Alan. It's been a pleasure to be here today.
