FREE DISTRIBUTION OF ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Free Distribution of Anti-Virus Software to Home Users

Free Distribution of Anti-Virus Software to Home Users

Internet security for home users and businesses is an important and complex issue. While the tools to help protect computers and data from intrusion are commercially available from multiple sources, and public and private educational initiatives have made online materials readily available, educating users in the proper use of such tools and raising their level of cyber security awareness is a significant challenge. For varying reasons, many consumers have not been able to keep up with the technology or information necessary to protect themselves from Internet threats. Although ISPs can and do play an important and helpful role in the education process, ISPs do not make security software or hardware products, or control the end user's activities on the Internet, or the ability or desire of end users to learn and stay current about security issues. In the end, no single group or industry can dictate the behavioral change necessary to significantly improve the security awareness of Internet users. Such change requires a joint public-private sector education effort targeted to enhancing the cyber security awareness of the Internet-using public.

Home and small business users face a number of challenges in safeguarding their computers and personal information from hackers and scam-artists on the Internet. Here are a few of the more significant challenges from the ISP perspective: 1) recognizing the need for anti virus and firewall software; 2) getting past the "barriers" to keeping software up-to-date; and 3) staying current on threats and how to spot, avoid and remedy them. (Cawkell, 1999)

Recognizing the need for security

To stay safe online, the home or small business user must first understand that running anti-virus and firewall software is essential to securing any computer connected to the Internet, and ...