15 Jun 2010

Cyber security 'is about dialogue'

Ensuring cyber security is all about talking to each other and using common sense approaches to online activity, it has been stated.

Andrew Ford, marketing director at Symantec, said data security should be about communication between providers and users and not about putting in place restrictive applications, although these can have their place depending upon the circumstances.

He commented that security is about "being more savvy" and looking for "things like ... the S on the end of the HTTP to make sure it's a secure site", as well as issuing guidelines that users can follow easily.

Mr Ford added, however, that online malicious content continues to grow and therefore people should remain wary at all times when carrying out online activities.

According to research by Symantec, the Downadup botnet has now infected more than 6.5 million computers worldwide and malicious internet activity is increasing in many countries, including from Brazil, India, Poland, Vietnam and Russia.