Anti-virus vendors failing users, claims CA chief

Anti-virus vendors are not doing enough to protect their customers from malicious worms and viruses, according to software giant Computer Associates (CA).

Speaking to silicon.com, Simon Perry, vice president of CA's security division, said companies will need to develop more robust, holistic approaches to protect themselves as viruses become more and more complex.

He said pure-play anti-virus vendors aren't up to the job and criticised them for their one-sided approach.

He said: "Viruses like Nimda exploit a hole in the MS IIS system. To prevent this type of malware from attacking, companies should have both intrusion detection and firewalls as part of their security strategy, not just anti-virus software.

"The approach to security should be a holistic one - which is not what the anti-virus vendors can offer."

He added: "IT managers need to see how many IIS servers they have in order to detect where and how the worm was moving and not just detect the worm itself."

Perry said that with its large customer base, CA can get the virus samples much quicker than any one of its anti-virus competitors.

"We have a large client base who are all tech-savvy and vigilant, which gives us an advantage over our more consumer-focused competitors," he said.

But Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant from Sophos, said Perry was just trying to boost its own sales at the expense of its competitors.

He said: "I suspect Simon may be trying to push CA's firewall/intrusion detection products on the back of the Nimda outbreak, as Nimda exploits a vulnerability in some versions of Microsoft IIS.

"Microsoft had a patch available to secure their vulnerability long before Nimda was written, which we recommended users install. Even if they didn't install it, Sophos anti-virus users were protected from infection," he added.