[February 16, 2005]

2005: Spyware, Mobile Mail and Roosters

By David Sims, TMCnet CRM Alert Columnist

According to a SecureWave news filing, “many industry observers [are] calling 2005 ‘The Year of Spyware.”

Quick, to the Bat-Google! (Be back in a minute.)

(According to the Chinese New Year’s 12-year revolving menagerie, 2005 is actually The Year Of The Rooster. People born in the Year of the Rooster are deep thinkers, capable, and talented, often a bit eccentric, and often have rather difficult relationship with others.)

Spyware is just the latest in a long line of malicious code that plagues corporations and their users. International Data Corporation estimates that nearly 67% of all computers contain some form of spyware. Unlike viruses, which require some sort of action by the user to spread, spyware is downloaded onto a machine unbeknownst to the user.

(According to East Side Boxing, 2005 is The Year Of The Bull – Taurus “The Bull” Sykes, a 22-1-1 Brooklyn heavyweight. Hey this reporter isn’t arguing.)

The code then executes on the machines, possibly capturing sensitive usage data and other types of critical information. Enterprises need to be concerned about spyware for a number of privacy and confidentiality reasons, which includes regulatory compliance.

(According to PhoneContent.com, 2005 is actually The Year Of Mass Mobile Mail Capacity. But 2007’s supposed to be a whole lot better, evidently.)

"Spyware is perhaps the most insidious of security threats - its aim is to divulge private information," says Carol Baroudi, Partner, Hurwitz & Associates. "It threatens every transaction we deem secure. SecureWave's approach precludes any kind of spyware ever running."

(According to a bunch of politicians and assorted media groupies with nothing better to do, 2005 is The Year Of Languages. No kidding – evidently not everybody has the decency to speak English yet.)

The Sanctuary product suite turns blacklisting and the constant updating of signatures on its head, by focusing on those devices and applications allowed on the network. Administrators can easily manage a centralized list of allowed devices and executables – everything else is denied, period. The whitelisting approach shelters IT staffs from the Herculean task of maintaining blacklists and other frantic, reactionary approaches to managing device use policies.

(According to VoIP writer Joel Vincent, 2005 is… wait for it… no peeking… The Year Of VoIP! Fingertips pressed to chest, look of open-mouthed astonishment optional.)

"The security tools market has become fragmented, with organizations frantically buying one product to chase viruses, another for spyware, another for intrusion detection," said Bob Johnson, CEO of SecureWave. "Instead of chasing signatures, organizations need to take a step back and look at methods that not only block the latest problem, but also holistically stop the unauthorized executable code that underlies everything from spyware to viruses and Trojans.”

(According to Da Capo Music, 2005 is The Year Of The Harmonica. In their house, maybe.)

Johnson describes Sanctuary as the next generation of security solutions that get organizations out of “the rat race of catching up to the latest threat. Instead of further burdening the existing infrastructure, Sanctuary is designed to work with systems management and administration solutions that are already in use.”

(And according to an Engadget.com post about a week ago, Sony Ericsson promises that 2005 will be The Year Of Something To Do With Music, but they haven’t figured out exactly what yet.)

David Sims is contributing editor and CRM Alert columnist for TMCnet.