What's New: Security Vendors Don't Check For Exploits

A report by Danish security vendor Secunia says that most security vendors do a poor job of detecting exploits for known software vulnerabilities, and just look for the virus/worm/payload that delivers it. Symantec's software fared best with just over 21% of exploits found. The next three closest competitors were only in the two percent range. Secunia observes that there are far less exploits than viruses, so there would be far less signatures to detect, maintain, and distribute.

Users should of course continue to insatll security updates for key software as well as Internet-connected software, such as Windows, Office, Media Player/QuickTime/Real Player, iTunes, Firefox/Internet Explorer, and the like. For instance, Microsoft plans to release 14 updates tomorrow via Windows Update.

Monday, Oct 13, 2008 02:15 pm CDT

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