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Filed under: Internet, Security, News

It's official, there's a crapload of malware on the Internet

Man, I wish this chart illustrated my salary over the past five years. Sadly, however, it's AV-Test.org's look at malware in the wild.

The actual number of unique samples doesn't necessarily mean all that much. So many of the nasties floating around the Internet are just mutations of other infections. Just look at the vast array of crud SmitFraudFix cleans up - it's a whole lot more than the original SmitFraud infection.

What's much more alarming is the number of infected PCs. Trend Micro points out the following in their blog post: "in the first six months of 2008, [Trend Micro] recorded that 253.4 million systems were infected with malware. The comparable volume for 2009 is almost double at 491.2 million."

That's a whole lotta infections. Trend's opinion on how to tackle the growing threat? Look to The Cloud, of course. They offer four possible benefits:
  1. Each client is a part of a real-time global protection network.
  2. When the network detects an Internet security threat on behalf of any one participant in the network, all participants are automatically and immediately protected.
  3. All devices that connect to the Internet are protected. This protection complements your existing antivirus security solution.
  4. There's correlation among the global protection network.
With so many threats, a global defense network makes a lot of sense to me. It would be even better if security providers joined forces to create a stronger, more responsive system than any one provider could on their own. I don't think I'll hold my breath waiting for that to happen.

What do you think? Sound off in the comments!

Filed under: Business, Fun, Internet, Web services, Social Software

Unbiased product reports, available at ProductWiki

productwiki

Want to get a total unbiased report on a new product you are thinking about purchasing? ProductWiki can help.

ProductWiki is a product information site that is based off of a collaborative wiki format. The website is entirely maintained by visitors and users who share information or review consumer products from around the world.

The goal the team behind ProductWiki has is to create a comprehensive information resource that covers all products in depth. All products might be a little hard to get onto the site, but it's overflowing with a range of products already, from LCD TV's, external hard drives, tea cups, games, health and beauty products, cars and a truckload more.

When searching for an item, the site not only will give a review from the submitter, but will also show pictures, key features, and places where it can be bought. Users can choose to tag items, and write additional pros and cons based on experience they have had with the item.

ProductWiki is another great place to go to check out the items that are on your shopping list, getting great first hand results from people that actually own and use it.


[via eHub]

Filed under: Business, Google, Yahoo!

Google Finance updates

google finance updatesIn an effort to stay hot on Yahoo!'s tail, Google has updated Google Finance. It's only been six months in the running, and now its time for a change. In this update, Google has added data and charts for up to 40 years of US stocks. A new homepage design lets users see currency and sector information instantly, as well as a listing of top movers. Registered users on the site have the ability to build portfolios and track stocks and companies. Users can also upload information from other online portfolios into their Google Finance portfolio. The new beta design launched on Tuesday. Don't forget to also add your Google Finance portfolio to your start page.

So what do you think? Is it a Yahoo! Finance killer yet?

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

View more Time Wasters

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