Bug’s Life
Wednesday, March 9th, 2011Imagine this. Manufacture a car and make plenty of holes in it so that all sorts of nasties and indescribable can get in whilst your driving alone. And once your car has been infiltrated by these ‘outsiders’, they can disrupt the controls, or grab your wallet and nick your money.
Ridiculous? Yes, but when it comes to software applications, that’s what happens every minute of the day.
Indeed, if that happened in modern day cars, there would be a consumer outcry. But in the software industry, it’s the norm.
Software applications are complex lines of computer code. And the problem is, that they are so complex (just lines of 0 and 1s), that it’s easy for a programmer (most modern day code is written in C++), to make a mistake.
Now it might be a minor mistake, but that’s all that a modern hacker (or cyber criminal as they are known as these days) needs to exploit the application. Because certain mistakes, or holes in the code (which are known in the trade as ‘bugs’), can be exploited. And the holes are in effect open portals through which hackers can insert new code which are known as viruses. Basically, a virus is a line of command code which serves a purpose designed by the hacker.
It might be as innocent as a joke which can appear on the user’s screen at a given time; or, it might be as dangerous as monitoring the user’s internet surfing and eventually learning how to drain their bank account.
But the point is, that the code, complete with ‘bugs’, is sold by the computer companies as finished products.
Now, to be fair to them, if they were to produce a totally bug free product, it would take years longer to finish and to market. And, arguably, a bug free state would be almost impossible to achieve, because the hackers tend to evolve their strategies over time.
For example, take Windows XP (the Microsoft operating system) which is one of the most complex and sizable applications you can buy, with millions of lines of code. Only now, after a huge number of service packs and patches (literally shoring up the defences and closing the holes), is Windows XP almost watertight. It has taken years to reach this stage and since then, two further incarnations have been launched: Windows Vista and Windows Seven.
And although software developers are getting better, it’s still a sad fact that most complex software applications you can buy, will have bugs and will be vulnerable to hackers.
The only way to cope with this is by using tools from quality antivirus software developers. It is these companies which have inherited the role which many believe should have been taken seriously by the developers.
The downside is, that you have to spend extra to protect products that arguably shouldn’t have been sold until they were watertight. But if you wanted 100% security, then you might have to wait years for products.
So, a flawed industry, yes, but is there a way out, yes again: buy good antivirus software and when it comes to surfing, always be a cynic.
Guest Article by Neil Camp






My name is Alan Potts and I'm the Editor of the Antivirus-BUYability web site and Managing Director of BUYability Limited. You can connect with me or keep up to date with new posts on this blog via the following social media sites: 








