For the second time recently, a security researcher has pointed out that running machines without administrative privileges could significantly improve security.
Mikko Hypponen, the head of research at Finnish AV company F-Secure in an interview with The Inquirer, said a great way to stop a lot of malware would be to take administrative rights away from online users.
“Most wouldn’t notice (although those who did would be incandescent with annoyance) and most malware would be stopped from functioning. It should have been done already,” he said.
The only drawback might be that the next generation of computer professionals would have a harder time learning how their machines, networks and the Internet work.
Last month we blogged about the story when a security firm made a similar call:
“Los Angeles security firm BeyondTrust has released an analysis of Microsoft’s 75 security bulletins last year. They came to the startling conclusion that if users had operated their computers without administrative rights they would have eliminated 64 percent of their risk from Microsoft vulnerabilities!”
Mikko Hypponen interview here.