The term «drive-by infection» is used to describe a computer malware infection (e. g. a virus, Trojan etc.) caught simply by visiting a website. Just surfing to an affected website is enough to infect a computer. Affected websites often contain legitimate offers and have been compromised first to then distribute malware.
- always use the latest version of your browser, including
- always keep your operating system and all installed
programs up-to-date (e. g. Adobe Acrobat Reader)
- always update your virus scanner
- regularly check your hard disk for viruses
The affected websites are systematically manipulated by hackers, who exploit vulnerabilities in web applications. The website operator usually does not notice there is anything wrong at all. The following issues show why drive-by infections are so dangerous and unpredictable:
- With drive-by infections, it is enough to simply visit a website to infect a computer with malware. Visitors don't need to start a download or install anything - the website does this automatically!
- The malware download is started when visitors access the site, serving to override firewalls and NATs (Network Address Translation), so that these don't offer any protection!
- It is not just websites offering pornographic or racist content being targeted, but also sites which would never be suspected. Even legitimate, well-known and frequently-visited websites have been known to have become infected with malicious code.
Another important security measure is to always have your virus scanner up-to-date. As many viruses are only extracted once they reach the user's machine and are downloaded in compressed shape, a virus scanner cannot always detect them. It is therefore vital to regularly check your hard disk for viruses (e. g. weekly).
Is this page secure?
Norton (Symantec) offers a service on their website enabling you to find out the respective security status (and any current threats) of some well-known websites.
Just open the Norton Safe Web website and enter the address of the relevant website into the space provided. You will then receive an assessment of that site from Norton.