In my last post, I discussed programs that could potentially help you avoid zero day exploits. In this article, I will elaborate further on avoiding the exploits.
Alternatives
Many exploits are built specifically for one program. For example, the Firefox 3.5 font exploits will not work in any other versions of Firefox, and won’t work Internet Explorer. Security Experts will always tell you that using a more popular software and make you more susseptible to exploits.
So if you are worried about using Microsoft Word, OpenOffice or some other word processing program will help.
Unfortunately, the same goes with Windows. Many hackers have tried to exploit it because it is the more popular Operating System. There are less targetted attacks on Mac OS X because less people use it, however that is changing, but also because the kernel it runs on is a lot more secure. We are starting to see more viruses written to exploit Mac OS X as Apple gain a greater share of the personal computing market.
Now things are changing. Antivirus vendors are now making antiviruses for OS X, such as PC tool’s iAntivirus.
Virtual Machines
This is for extremely paranoid people. A virtual machine is a program that runs an OS inside an existing OS, such as Windows XP inside Windows 7 or Vista. This was for sure, make your primary operating system safe, because whatever happens to the Virtual Machine is contained. There are many virtual emulators out there, but the best free one in my opnion is Microsoft’s Virtual PC:
So now, you may employ some of these programs and tactics to help you lower the risk of having your computer compromised, here’s one last tip: you can never be too safe.
Why? A good hacker can exploit each of these programs and possibly bypass system security and make their way into your system. . There are many ways to get your way into a system, some that you may notice, some you may not.
The moral of the story: browse with common sense and scan everything you download for possible viruses.
