It is high time that we, as Information Technology Professionals, did something permanently to stop the incredible problem of malicious computer infection.  Computer viruses, malware, trojan horses, and spyware are simply symptoms of an immature technology that must be innovated out.  I find it simply unacceptable that even though home PC processors operate in the gigaflops now, we cannot come up with a scheme to allow them to know self from “other” and thus self protect.

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How bad is it?  What are the odds and cost of this horrendous problem? Take a read here:

In Consumer Reports’ 2008 State of the Net summary, the odds of contracting a serious computer virus problems are given to be 1 in 7, the yearly costs $2.9 billion. The odds of a serious spyware problem are 1 in 14, with a yearly cost of $3.6 billion. (Note that these figures are for both businesses and consumers.)  (source link from DefendingTheKingdom.com)

Stop for a second to put that in perspective… the odds of your property (your computer) doing something that you did not know about is 1 in 7!  Compare that to the below odds…

  • Odds of drowning in a bathtub: 685,000 to 1
  • Odds of being killed sometime in the next year in any sort of transportation accident: 77 to 1
  • Odds of being struck by lightning: 576,000 to 1
  • Odds of winning a straight up on a single number in roulette: 37 to 1
  • Odds of being audited by the IRS: 175 to 1
  • Odds of dating a supermodel: 88,000 to 1
  • Odds of winning an Academy Award: 11,500 to 1

Doesn’t it seem reasonable that it should be more likely to get audited by the IRS than have your computer become a functioning part of an overseas crimebot?  Don’t you think that it would be nice if your chance of winning in roulette was better than the chance that your computer is recording your passwords via a key logger?

I don’t know about you, but I am simply embarrassed for our profession that we have gone this long, knowing of the problem, and not taking anything more than band-aide steps to mitigate the threat.  This week, I will focus on some of the more promising paths ahead for this as well as some of the key people fighting the good fight!

What do you think about this topic?  Do you agree or disagree with me? Do you have a recommended news story for next week? Please share your ideas below.

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for January 18, 2010  by Scott Coughlin.

Image Credit: GovGab

Odds Sources: Funny2.com, defendingthekingdom.com

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