Worry Index                                                      

• What is the difference between our worry versus risk ranking?
• Does one worry about a particular risk?
• How does the worry ranking work?
• How to determine the worry classification we assign to a threat?
• Run for cover

 

What is the difference between our worry versus risk ranking?

A vulnerability in an operating system or a software could increase the risk for a system of being exploited by a spammer or being infected by malware.

For instance, the risk of a nuclear fallout is limited, nonetheless, it represents a risk that people consider serious, especially if they live near a nuclear power plant.

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Does one worry about a particular risk?

If a virus is spreading do I worry about this fact or simply trust my anti-virus software to handle the job?

The risk of having rain in Luebeck or Hamburg may be high but the grill party may still go ahead. Why, because if the rain arrives there is nothing to worry about except that everybody will just use their umbrella.

While the risk for being infected by the AIDS virus may be limited, a teenager may worry about it. Similarly, the risk for being infected by a worm may be limited but if it can destroy one‘s data, as was the case with the Witty worm in May 2004, this is something to worry about.

Being infected means being harmed severely such as loosing data...

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How does the worry ranking work?

Below are five levels we use to assign a worry level for a threat in cyberspace that is coming your way.

Each of our Alerts carries a Worry Index ranking.

We classify these threats as follows:

• 1 – Not really Worrysome
• 2 – Should start to Worry a bit about it
• 3 – Worrisome threat
• 4 – High Worrisome threat
• 5 – Red Alert - get cover

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How to determine the worry classification we assign to a threat?

Below are three main metrics describing different facets that influence our classification of a threat regarding how much one should worry about it:

• Potential for Damage (PD) – addresses the potential degree of damage an infection could cause to the user‘s resources, such as one‘s hard disk. Could I loose my data or will my hardware be destroyed if infected. The Witty virus, managed to destroy all the systems that were infected.
• Speed of Distribution (SD) – measures how fast a malware program such as a virus or worm spreads itself from low, moderate to high. Do I have time to protect myself? The Witty worm managed to infect all targeted systems within 45 minutes. This is very critical criteria, because the faster malware may spread, system administrators have less time to respond.
• Degree of Diffusion (DD) or Prevalence – extent to which a virus or a worm is already spreading among computer users, how many cases have been reported from outside the laboratory (also sometimes called in ‘wild‘), how prevalent is the virus (low, moderate or high) has it arrived in Europe already and where is it found most often?

Accordingly, if the potential for damage is high, and distribution is rapid while DD is gaining in your neighborhood or region, we are likely to assign such a newly emerging Threat a 5 on our scale – this means: Run for cover!

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Run for cover

Subscribe to our Threat Alerts and follow our suggestions made therein and you should reduce your risk of Worrying.

Finally check our Tips & Tricks and further reduce your chances of being infected by a virus, spyware or identity theft.

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Cordially,
Your ContactCASES Team

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