The FINANCIAL — Kaspersky anti-virus, one of the most popular software programmes worldwide, has unofficially been declared a spy programme in Georgia. State organizations are avoiding installing Kaspersky, afraid of information leaks.
“The reason is that Kaspersky anti-virus is projected by Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of Kaspersky Lab, who is of Russian origin. Officials from the Ministry of Defence are afraid that with the help of Kaspersky software it will be possible for the leak of confidential news to occur,” George Kofenlu, Product Manager of UGT, told The FINANCIAL.
Kofenlu says that the team management of Kaspersky consists of Russians but the company is owned by Microsoft. “This is international software and if anyone notices any illegal actions from even a member of the team then the company will stop working. Accordingly the distrust of our officials for Kaspersky is groundless.”
“I don’t care about the national origin of software which I use. Instead I personally estimate the product’s value and if satisfied with it, then I use it,” says Konstantin Stalinsky, Director of Info Tech. “The latest version of Kaspersky antivirus software is the strongest I’ve ever come across.”
Stalinsky says that in the years 2004-2006 in the Ministry of Science of Georgia, unlicensed Kaspersky antivirus software was installed on all the computers of employees. “The fact is that there was no case of any confidential news leak from this governmental structure during that time. However we did face the leak of confidential information from the Ministry of Defence into Russian media sources.”
Stalinsky believes that if Microsoft, which is an international organization, notices any sign of illegal acts by Eugeny Kaspersky, it will just abolish its contract with him. “In this case we can rely on Microsoft because of our high level of trust in this company.”
“Besides Kaspersky the most popular antivirus software is NOD 32 and Symantec. All three of these antivirus softwares insure the safety of computers. NOD 32, Symantec and Kaspersky are competitors and accordingly there is not a big difference between them.”
Kofenlu, UGT, says that the most widespread virus in Georgia is the Trojan-Dropper.Win32.Flystud.ko.
According to the official statistics of Kaspersky Lab, Trojan-Dropper occupied third place on the list of most active viruses worldwide in April. The first place was occupied by virus Net-Worm.Win32.Kido.ih and Virus.Win32.Sality.aa.
As the main advantage of Kaspersky software, Stalinsky, Info Tech, underlines its ability not only to find and protect computers from viruses but also to treat them.
Although Otar Abaiadze, IT Director of Elit Electronics, the largest electrical appliance in Georgia, doesn’t think that antivirus software is effectively able to protect them from any kind of virus. “None of the software available out there is able to guaranty 100% insurance of our computers. The fact is that the dangers are expected from the so called less dangerous viruses,” Abaiadze says.
“In my opinion the main disadvantage of current antivirus software is the environment in which it is installed. The operational systems frequently have programming mistakes and cause different kinds of problems themselves,” Abaiadze notes.
In order to increase the protection of its informational base Elit Electronics uses antivirus software Symantec Endpoint Protection. “Our company does not use free downloads of software. We prefer to buy them. Once every six months we do a total refreshment of our antivirus software. We last restored this six months ago. Usually we experience cyber attacks twice a year. It takes two to three days to solve such problems,” Abaiadze declares.
“The updating of licensed antivirus software is necessary each year. An average price starts from USD 50,” Kofenlu says.
Stalinsky says that hacking in to a website has a level of competition to it. Often computer specialists try to demonstrate their strength by hacking in to sites. “During last year’s war when almost every informational site had been hacked in to, it became apparent how hackers were choosing the objects of their attack. They chose informational sources that were mainly mentioned as sources and quoted. We often face such fights on an international level. Even Microsoft had its MP3 format stolen from its server before its launch. In this case of Microsoft’s it was the fault of their employees. They wrote the code which then became available to others.”
“Mostly hackers are working for pleasure. You can also find some hackers focused on receiving financial profit from hacking in to sites, frequently by stealing bank account details,” Kofenlu, UGT, notes.
“Technically the websites which are hacked in to most frequently are those that have had their passwords guessed out. The main problem is connected with the servers rather than the websites; when the servers are protected badly. In the protection of servers the qualifications of the people who work on them is the most important issue. In Georgia the main problem is connected with the simplicity of passwords and the untidiness of programmers,” Stalinsky says.
Kofenlu says that in Georgia antivirus software is most frequently downloaded for free without any licenses. “The keys of licenses somehow find their way on to blacklists. The protective strength of freely downloaded antivirus programmes is small. There are lots of types of viruses which are unable to be kept out by freely downloaded antivirus software.”
Stalinsky mentions that in Georgia the culture of buying licensed antivirus software is increasing little by little. “The price of Kaspersky software is USD 200. Despite this high cost you can still find lots of organizations agreeing to pay USD 200 to ensure the safety of their informational bases.”
Most programmers regard spam as one of the least dangerous internet viruses. “I think that spam, which is one of the most widespread viruses, and which has infected almost every PC at least once, is an easily solved type of virus compared with other, more complex ones,” says Abaiadze, Elit Electronics.
“Protecting against spam is easy. You just arrange for the mail from those addresses to be automatically sent to your junk folder. The main danger of spam is inside its attached links. Most frequently they are links to web viruses,” Kofenlu, UGT, says.
Stalinsky says that spam just plays on your nerves. People can easily avoid it. The problem is that often you can confuse a proper email with spam by mistake and delete it. As for people who receive spam at home it’s not such a big problem to just press delete. Google has a special anti spam service as well. You can connect your private mail to it and it will filter spam mail out for you before you even receive them.
Written By Madona Gasanova
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