A security firm has proved that todays cars cannot catch computer viruses.

After exhaustive testing Finnish security firm F-Secure has failed to make a virus leap from a mobile phone handset to a car’s onboard communications system.

F-Secure did the tests in response to rumours that some Lexus cars had been infected by a virus.

But the phone system on the vehicle did not respond to any of the attacks tried out by F-Secure researchers.

Well, that’s a relief!

BBC NEWS | Technology | Cars safe from computer viruses

After a slow period on BBC Tech News , there’s now a whole load of stuff.

• EU to launch its own web domain – “.eu will be up and running by the end of 2005.”
• Search ads fire up Google profits
• Papal hotmail address goes on sale – and other emails and domain too!
• ‘Simple games’ rule mobile charts – Tetris tops the charts – couldn’t have seen that coming!
• The Cult of Mac – The BBC voicing what the rest of us knew ages ago
• Review: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – “not as bad as I had feared. Then again, it is not as good as I had hoped.” – I’m fearing the worst I’m afraid….
• Helpful users face virus danger – Another Sober variant

There is a good chance that your home computer has been hijacked by spammers if you have a broadband net link, but are not using a firewall or anti-virus software to protect your PC.

Even if you use anti-virus software but do not keep it up to date, there is every possibility that you are helping to keep spam alive and spreading.

You could also be helping if you are one of those people that open up attachments on e-mail messages that turn out to contain viruses, rather than the pictures you were promised in a subject line.

Spammers are actively seeking out and hijacking home PCs to act as remotely controlled relays, or zombies, that pass on their unwanted messages.

Home PCs hijacked to spread spam – BBC Online News

I completely share his disgust at the attitudes of people who refuse to make any attempt to protect their PCs against viri and worms – either through stupidity, tightfistedness or lazyness. It’s just not acceptable.

Having provided tech support for large numbers of my year at uni recently, including dissinfecting and protecting more than half of them when Sasser went rampant, this is partly me being selfish of my own time.

But, as I’ve said before, too many people are only willing to take any action after the worst has already happened – and when it comes to these things spreading, that is always too late.

Like I said, this doesn’t particularly suprise me.

• The people quizzed admit they are not aware of even the most basic virus prevention measures
• The workers quizzed believe that have no part to play in preventing the spread of viruses, preferring to leave responsibility to “their IT department, Microsoft or the government”
• The people surveyed said they are “too busy to download anti-virus updates”

Not overly suprising in a qualitive sense – although the statistics are very worrying. Another couple I can add from my own experience:

• Over the last couple of weeks a number of my friends have been hit by MyDoom. And only one figured out what it was before it did any serious damage.
• During one summer job I was regularly forwarded infected zip files by an oblivious colleague who (probably fortunately) didn’t have a zip extractor. It’s lucky I know what a suspicious email looks like – apparently unlike two-thirds of UK office workers.

If there’s a cold going around most people will take some kind of precautions – making sure they get enough vitamins, getting lots of fluid, wearing a face mask (if you feel particularly extreme) and stocking up on Lemsip ‘just in case’. So why do we treat computer viruses so differently.

Well, for a start if you get ill it’s you that’s stuck in bed for a week feeling awful – if your computer gets a virus then there’s a good chance that it can be “someone else’s problem” (the IT department, Microsoft or the government perhaps.) Also, until you’ve had your hard drive scrambled, there’s a huge temptation to believe “it’ll never happen to me.”

Most people are so convinced that they’re not going to get a virus that they don’t take the time to protect themselves – or even learn how.