Elkus: "Fight the Deadly Viruses"
First, let's just get the mistakes out of the way. Not to ping Elkus, but to forestall any well meaning readers from focusing on them and ignoring the rest of what Elkus writes. His article starts off with,
"Microsoft released a notice warning customers of a computer virus called "zero-day," according to CNN.com. The virus infects ".ani" files that operate the mouse's hourglass on the monitor, which occurs before Microsoft has the ability to fend off the attack."
Okay. There are many mistakes in that statement. It wasn't a virus named zero-day, it was a so-called zero-day attack - which means circulating malware that exploits a vulnerability for which no patch is yet available. And it wasn't a virus that infected .ani files - it was an exploit of vulnerabilities in the handling of .ani files. And it wasn't the mouse hourglass - .ani files are animated cursor files in general.
Now that we've got these out of the way, let's focus on the rest of the article which is pretty darn good. Actually, very darn good. Elkus makes an excellent case that college students in particular believe they aren't of interest to attackers. He also notes his own bad experience with more traditional malware and then warns, "But this isn't extreme". Mr. Elkus then points out that identify theft is a very real problem, citing figures from the Federal Trade Commission to back up his position. He ties this together, noting "With both viruses and identity theft at a premium, safe computer use should be second nature."
Elkus then astutely discuss the challenges faced by today's students, pointing out that just getting the computer straps their budget and there's little left over for antivirus and other security software. He also eloquently addresses user frustration, noting:
"The balance we are forced to face between computer security and productivity is reaching the boiling point. Running anti-virus software and clicking "yes" or "no" for security questions takes up time and computer resources, not to mention it is just plain annoying."
He urges students to overcome these challenges and finishes with a battle cry, calling on students to "fight the deadly viruses that destroy our computers with all we've got."
In my book, Elkus gets an A+ for his intuition and understanding of the problem. The technical details he got wrong can be overcome with experience. But there's no substitute for just 'getting it' - and Elkus clearly gets it. I hope all students - and adults - will take his words to heart.
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