South Korea proposes to make security software mandatory

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Mar 30, 2011

Law enables government to search PCs of those who do not comply.

A bill, proposed by a number of South Korean MPs, would make the use of security software mandatory for computer users in the country.

The 'Zombie PC Prevention Bill' is currently pending in the Culture, Broadcast and Communications Committee of the National Assembly. It is endorsed by 11 MPs, nine of whom are members of the Grand National Party, which has a majority in the Assembly.

Critics of the bill have pointed out that running security software does not prevent all infections and that it should rather be used as part of a broader strategy. Some also fear the bill would allow the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) - the government department responsible for enforcing it - to pick and choose which security solutions it deems to be good and ban others.

Moreover, the proposed bill would allow KCC agents to search the PCs of those it suspects of not complying with the bill - without a warrant.

More at ZDNet here with comments from the Korean Open Web forum here.

Learn how the latest threats try to evade detection and take away invaluable advice and information on the latest threats, strategies and solutions for protecting your organisation at the VB Seminar on 24 May at The Open University Campus in Milton Keynes, UK. Register now to receive a free six-month Virus Bulletin subscription.

Posted on 30 March 2011 by Virus Bulletin

twitter.png
fb.png
linkedin.png
hackernews.png
reddit.png

 

Latest posts:

In memoriam: Dr Alan Solomon

We were very sorry to learn of the passing of industry pioneer Dr Alan Solomon earlier this week.

New paper: Nexus Android banking botnet – compromising C&C panels and dissecting mobile AppInjects

In a new paper, researchers Aditya K Sood and Rohit Bansal provide details of a security vulnerability in the Nexus Android botnet C&C panel that was exploited in order to gather threat intelligence, and present a model of mobile AppInjects.

New paper: Collector-stealer: a Russian origin credential and information extractor

In a new paper, F5 researchers Aditya K Sood and Rohit Chaturvedi present a 360 analysis of Collector-stealer, a Russian-origin credential and information extractor.

VB2021 localhost videos available on YouTube

VB has made all VB2021 localhost presentations available on the VB YouTube channel, so you can now watch - and share - any part of the conference freely and without registration.

VB2021 localhost is over, but the content is still available to view!

VB2021 localhost - VB's second virtual conference - took place last week, but you can still watch all the presentations.

We have placed cookies on your device in order to improve the functionality of this site, as outlined in our cookies policy. However, you may delete and block all cookies from this site and your use of the site will be unaffected. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to Virus Bulletin's use of data as outlined in our privacy policy.