Is Security Software a Modern-Day Protection Racket?

Stuxnet takes out nuclear production facilities in Iran. Flame listens to traffic, keystrokes, even Skype calls and records the information. China is supposedly hacking into systems all over the world, and so on.

Meantime Microsoft churns out infinite patches for new threats, and every time I start my home computer, it complains that it is at risk. The security software I bought for about $100 a bit over a year ago has expired and if I don't re-up my data will be stolen, my hard drive wiped, my bank accounts emptied, my photos grabbed and so it goes. It continues to stop elderly viruses, but will not be updated to counter the healthy young malware launched 25 seconds ago, that is swarming about, thirsting for my passwords and account information.

 If I were making security software I might worry that nobody would make new malware, and my business in countering said malware would drop like a stone. So far that doesn't seem to be a problem, but were I of a suspicious nature, I might suspect that this billion dollar business in security requires malware for its success and if a malware terminator were found, the entire business would crash.

Thus, my suspiciousness counsels, there is no complete handle for malware, because no one really wants it fixed except the poor consumer.

Vint Cerf, a while back said that the Internet was not built for security, but for communication, and he should know. To get security baked in, he said, we would need to start over, and build a new Internet. Well, that's impossible, so what else do we have?

The bad guys who lurk on the Web to deface, steal, and make bad jokes, and the good guys, who are trying to do a job, finish a spreadsheet, write an article, connect with their friends, make good jokes, etc.

A while back, someone used my ATM card to buy some Armani clothing. I mostly shop at Goodwill, so my bank got suspicious and stopped the transaction. It looks like my information and password was collected by someone who was slipping some kind of electronic readers into gas pumps to record magnetic data and PINs.

 If I had a gas station, I would make damn sure my pumps were upgraded so that nobody could gain access to plant that. If it got out that my pumps were hacked, my competitors would profit and I would go out of business. So I'm not worried about repeats, the financial incentives are to terminate that gambit.

But malware is a different story. It's the hacker's fault, and your fault if you neglect to buy the antidote. And the damn hackers are so clever and determined and malicious that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance, eternal patches, eternal software upgrades, eternal subscriptions to this or that virus protection software, backups, etc. If I produced a software that stopped all malware, I'd sell a bunch, then be out of business. No version 3.4.2, no revenue stream.

So if the government is so worried about Chinese hackers, why doesn't it invent a bulletproof security system? Because then China would use it, and our spying would be thwarted. It's like nuclear bombs. You have it, and you don't use it because you're afraid they would use it on you, so you do a low-scale warfare, undeclared war, etc. to keep the soldiers busy and the money flowing. You lose a few, they lose a few, but hey, the game goes on.