By SUBASHINI SELVARATNAM

PETALING JAYA: In order to protect computers against malware and Internet threats, a majority of Malaysians rely on freeware programs, according to software security company, Symantec Corp.

“By relying on such programs, Malaysians are more susceptible to online threats as their computers are not adequately protected,” Symantec Asia Pacific Pte Ltd vice-president of consumer for Asia-Pacific and Japan, David Freer said.

“All freeware programs have limited features and can lull consumers into a false sense of security. These kind of programs only provide one type of protection such as antivirus or firewall, which is inadequate to combat today’s threats,” he claimed.

For the average consumer, they feel protected as long as there is antivirus program installed in their computers.

“It does not bother them that the antivirus is a freeware program, which offers limited protection,” he explained.

Freer added that freeware programs offer spotty protection against known threats, and do not offer layers of protection against Internet threats.

Moreover, freeware programs do not come with customer support, should the users need help with the software.

Users who mix and match freeware programs with other solutions are also more likely to complain about annoyances such as pop-ups and alerts, to upgrade the program, he said.

On the other hand, with a complete security suite, users are protected against known and unknown threats.

This kind of solution offers seamless and automatic updates, multiple layers of protection, and extensive customer support.

Survey results

Freer was sharing the outcome the Norton 360 Cyber Safety Index survey, which was carried out between May 1 and July 14 among adults online in Malaysia, India and Singapore.

There were 805 respondents from Malaysia — 76% of which rely on freeware security programs. The survey was conducted by research firm Saffron Hill on behalf of Symantec.

The survey also revealed that one in four Malaysians is at high risk of being a victim of cyber-crime while 10% of the respondents use security software with an expired subscription.

About 5% of the respondents do not have any security software installed at their computers while 4% believe they do not need security software.

“For Symantec, our biggest challenge is apathy. Internet users believe that no untoward incidents would happen to them online. So, they find no reasons why they should pay for security,” said Freer.

He said malicious code can infect an unprotected computer within minutes.

Since June, Symantec has created 1.3 million threat signatures, and this is expected to surpass last year’s figures.

Last year, the company created 1,656,227 new malicious code signatures.

On related matter, Symantec would include a new feature called “reputation” to tackle undiscovered malware in its new products — Norton Internet Security 2010 and Norton AntiVirus 2010.

Instead of putting applications on a whitelist or blacklist, or relying solely on traditional signatures, every application is assigned a reputation value to identify whether it is safe to use or otherwise. This helps to identify whether the application is malware or not.