Abstract :
The recent surge in broadband connectivity among the Internet\´s residential users undoubtedly brings tremendous economic opportunity. However, not all that opportunity is driven by benevolent motives. Malware authors have discovered a bonanza in always-on connections that often feature vulnerable operating systems and feckless computer owners. Virus propagation, spam, click fraud, phishing, and other black hat activities boomed through botnets in 2006, and industry experts say the crisis has just started. However, as long as typical users remain ignorant of what experts call the "common-sense things" that keep their computers uninfected, its likely malware authors will continue to exploit those gaping security holes
Keywords :
Internet; broadband networks; invasive software; network operating systems; telecommunication security; Internet residential users; botnets; broadband connectivity; click fraud; malware authors; phishing; security; spam; virus propagation; vulnerable operating systems; Bandwidth; Computer worms; Costs; Filtering; Grid computing; Internet; Operating systems; Power generation economics; Statistics; Surges; botnets; malware; zombies;
