Many people are under the illusion that software companies are in the business of creating viruses. The truth is that so many viruses are turned loose everyday and the battle to combat all this keeps major software companies busy. Companies like Microsoft, Norton, and McAffee are our major protectors against viruses created by those who would do harm to our PC and to our very being. These companies are not in the business to destroy what they have built. The truth is the anti-virus venders have quite enough work to do just keeping up with the new malware variants that the organized crime gangs release upon unsuspecting PC users. Yes, I did say "gangs" not random high school students who are just trying to pull pranks. The first virus was created by a student experimenting with the system. Now it has become a major crime committed by professional criminals. Today is a completely new world we are fighting against professional hackers. Ten years ago or so hackers were just a bunch of smart kids who hacked as a hobby.
Today the word is that most Internet criminals are operating from Russia, China and Southern America. It is predicted by security specialists from the major anti-virus software companies that over the next five years there will be an increase in internet attacks from Central America, India, China and Africa. The other hot spot is in Brazil because they have many individuals with sophisticated computing skills but without the more lucrative job market to raise their standards of living. Malware creation hotspots growing in the former Soviet countries such as Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Lithuania and Lativia are the major areas of criminal activity. The online crime often presents a more lucrative path raising living standards for these people that is why it is hard to combat the problem.
Major companies like Microsoft would like to introduce a major anti-virus program with their Windows but if they did the U.S. anti-trust commission would charge them with violations. Microsoft tried to introduce Internet Explorer with Windows years ago and got into serious trouble. There is probably no way that our major companies will ever be allowed to offer anti-virus programs that would be included with the PC systems. This is very unfortunate for the general PC users.
The idea that these companies create viruses is just a myth. The major anti-virus companies are so busy creating software to combat the criminals we all have to face all around the world. The anti-virus companies do hire ex-hackers ostensibly for ethical hacking in order to check out the potential vulnerabilities of any system in advance. That is why the question about these companies creating viruses is highly controversial. When you see these ex-hackers, producing anti-virus packages that are fighting would be viruses. The fact is that even though these are the ones who help fight against a virus they are also the ones who create viruses. This does not mean that they turn the virus loose on unsuspecting internet users. In order to cure a virus you need to create a replica to experiment with to understand how the virus works. When the hackers know how a virus works then they are able to find a way to destroy, detect, or redirect the virus.
Frederick Musser is the owner of The Frustrated Computer Users Blog. A site dedicated to offering our visitors a fantastic online experiance while providing fantastic quality computer information and help for FREE!
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