Antivirus Companies Fighting Un-winnable War?

By Greg McNevin

March 19, 2007: According to experts at this week’s CeBit exhibition in Hannover, Germany, winning the war against malicious software may not be possible.

Address the exhibition late last week, Eugene Kaspersky or Russia’s Kaspersky Labs remarked that "If the growth in malware continues at the current pace, makers of anti-virus software may not be able to withstand the onslaught."

Grim words indeed. While no security vendor promises absolute and infallible security, the sheer volume of malicious software appearing is driving security firms towards their own Thermopylae.

Kaspersky rival F-Secure highlighted the deluge of nefarious software claiming it can receive over 40,000 tainted file submissions some days. "How can we deal with this avalanche," said F-Secure chief research officer Mikko Hypponen. "This is not just a battle between manufacturers of security software and some internet criminals. It is a war between good and evil."

Kaspersky likened the battle between antivirus vendors and malicious software developers as a “spooky arms race” where the attackers are disparate and invisible, and suggested a way of dealing with the problem could be via the establishment of a UN body that would act as “a sort of internet Interpol”

A global task force could prove to be the only long-term answer to the problem, if an attacker hails from Russia or China and attacks users in other countries for example, it can be difficult if not impossible to bring them to justice with no real cross-border law enforcement.

"In Europe, you are not worried about Brazilian car thieves getting away with your car," says Hypponen. "But attacks on your computer could come from anywhere on earth."

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