Mailbag: What organizations are doing about spyware

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: MICHAEL OSTERMAN ON MESSAGING
10/20/05
Today's focus: Mailbag: What organizations are doing about
spyware

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* How readers avoid spyware
* Links related to Messaging
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus: Mailbag: What organizations are doing about
spyware

By Michael Osterman

My recent column about spyware
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlmsg8756> generated a number of
responses. Here is a sample of what people told us regarding
their spyware experiences and what they're doing about the
problem:

* "One approach that we have taken in the education of our
employees is to focus on their home computer security. For some
reason, people are far more willing to listen when we're talking
about threats to their own systems. We are also conscious of the
news reports suggesting that hackers are now beginning to target
home computing more frequently than corporate networks, due to
ease of entry."

* "During the fall and winter months, our foundation hosts a
lunch for all employees. We (the IT department) gave a
presentation during one of those lunches on how to keep your
home computer free of spyware and viruses. Users seem more
willing and eager to listen when 1) food is involved and 2) it
will benefit them personally."

* "We are using Firefox whenever possible. Some of our Web
applications require Microsoft Internet Explorer, or claim to,
so we have to use Internet Explorer with them. In my own
testing, I have spoofed my user agent setting with both Firefox
and Apple's Safari browsers. It turns out that most of these
applications will work reliably. Some, however, do not. I have
found that computers using Firefox in this manner [do not
become] infected again."

* "One of the main initiatives at my company with respect to
addressing spyware and all forms of malicious software is the
increasing use of MacOS X systems. The architectural difference
of the hardware and the more secure operating system design have
greatly reduced this problem for us, particularly for laptop
users. And the users all love the Macs. A year ago there were
zero Macs here, now we're about 20% and increasing."

* "One thing you didn't mention...of the 80% of PCs infected
with spyware...100% are running Windows. For those of us who
have shunned Windows in our environments - primarily the 20%
that are not infected - we don't have that problem."

* "In my case I use GroupWise, Firefox, Novell NSS for file
storage, Novell NDPS for printing, Novell eDirectory for
authentication and PostgreSQL (on Linux). Seems that
"best-of-breed" will remain one of the primary considerations of
products deployed on networks that want security. And that
implies heterogeneous networks which will need to follow
standards to interoperate."

Thank you to everyone who responded to the column.

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. Cisco finally brings security push to LAN
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlmsg9057>
2. Skype: Hazardous to network health?
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlmsg7869>
3. WiMAX just around the corner
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlmsg9241>
4. McAfee, Omniquad top anti-spyware test
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlmsg6958>
5. Sourcefire discloses buffer-overflow vulnerability in Snort
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlmsg9242>

_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Michael Osterman

Michael D. Osterman is the principal of Osterman Research
<http://www.ostermanresearch.com/>, a market research firm that
helps organizations understand the markets for messaging,
directory and related products and services. He can be reached
by clicking here <mailto:michael@ostermanresearch.com>
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter sponsored by Nortel
Building the Mobile Enterprise Online Expo

The workplace is changing rapidly. Employees need to be
untethered from their desks while remaining connected and
accessible. This online event helps you solve your enterprise
mobility challenges by bringing together industry leaders,
including Nortel's CTO and CIO and RIM's VP Enterprise Systems,
to discuss the hottest topics in enterprise mobility. Broadcast
live to your desktop on Nov. 8, 2005. Register today!
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=117401
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS

Archive of the Messaging newsletter:
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/gwm/index.html
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