Microsoft warns against zombies
Date: June 12, 2006Source: arstechnica.com
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It turns out that the idea has become popular. In fact, zombie PCs infected by backdoor Trojan horses are the top security issue according to a new report released by Microsoft. Of the PCs found to contain malware by Microsoft's Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool over a 15-month period ending in March 2006, over 60 percent of them were part of a zombie network.
The Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool was introduced in January 2005, and since then, has found and removed malware from 5.7 million of the 270 million different computers it has been run on. After bots, the second-most-prevalent form of malware is e-mail worms. Those were found on around 18 percent of PCs with malware infestations.
Rootkits account for a relatively minor number of the total number of infestations, accounting for just under 14 percent of the malware found. Sony's infamous rootkit was a major source of that particular flavor of malware, which is particularly interesting given the fact that Microsoft was initially reluctant to label it as such. The Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool removed over 260,000 Sony-installed rootkits from users' PCs.
Figures on spyware infestation were not part of the study, as the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool does not look for and remove spyware.
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