Conficker Raises Questions on the Future of Cyber-Security

April 9, 2009 By Casey Mayville

Photo: Melih Abdulhayoglu, security expert and CEO of Comodo security

Over the past week or so, the Conficker worm has raised more than a few security questions. When will it appear? What will it do? How do you protect against it?

A new breed of virus, Conficker seemingly has the ability to infect computers by simply inhabiting a Web site or turning up in an e-mail inbox. Users were instructed to install an emergency patch released by Microsoft which would prevent the virus from exploiting the buffer overflow vulnerability.

But this new worm has brought the issue of how we deal with security to the forefront. Must we always have to come up with patches, fixes and other forms of reactive security to keep our computers safe? In a recent interview with security expert and Comodo security CEO, Melih Abdulhayoglu, an alternative form of security was brought to light: default-deny based systems. And although this white-listing form of security is not a new concept, recent security breaches and the rising number of identity theft cases force us to re-think the way we fight cyber-terrorism. Abdulhayoglu offers a possible solution to these growing security issues.

The Internet has changed the way we communicate, the way we do our jobs and, essentially, the way we live our lives. With so much of our personal and financial information online, security should be a top priority. And seeing as how in 2008, the revenue from Internet crimes surpassed revenue from drug trafficking crimes, it is evident that a very lucrative living can be made stealing this information.

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