p2p news / p2pnet: In statistics released for the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) and Windows Defender, created largely to protect MS customers from never-ending MS security holes and viruses aimed at exploiting them, Bill and the Boyz admit computer bugs never really go away.

MSRT has so far been executed about 2.7 billion times, says Microsoft, and in a look at the malware landscape based on MSRT data, continues that critturs such as the Blaster worm, which first showed up in 2003, are still very much alive and well.

There were 16 million instances of malicious software on 5.7 million unique Windows-based computers in the past 15 months, states Microsoft, continuing:

“Backdoor Trojans, which can enable an attacker to control an infected computer and steal confidential information, are a significant and tangible threat to Windows users.

“The MSRT has removed at least one backdoor Trojan each from approximately 3.5 million unique computers. Thus, of the 5.7 million unique computers from which the tool has removed malware, a backdoor Trojan was present in 62 percent of computers. Bots, a subcategory of backdoor Trojans that communicate through the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network, represent a majority of the removals.”

But back to Blaster, it’s, “still the 10th-most-removed piece of malware, according to Microsoft,” says The Washington Post, going on, “Indeed, Redmond found that in about 20 percent of cases where it removed malware in March 2006, the intruder was something the removal tool had previously nixed. The continued high rate of Blaster infections no doubt is due in large part to the number of people who re-install Windows for whatever reason and do not immediately apply security updates or take other precautions necessary for surfing the Internet with a Windows machine, such as using firewall and anti-virus software.”

Microsoft, “also acknowledged an increasing prevalence of ‘rootkits,’ software that hackers and viruses can use to hide their presence once they have broken into a computer system,” says the story. “The company found rootkits in 780,000 machines, or 14 percent of those it treated. Microsoft noted that this figure drops to 9 percent (530,000 PCs) if you don’t count the rootkit distributed via some Sony music CDs. In 20 percent of the cases when a rootkit was found on a computer, at least one backdoor Trojan was found as well.”

Interestingly, “Social engineering attacks represent a significant source of malware infections,” says Microsoft.

“Worms that spread through e-mail, peer-to-peer networks and instant messaging clients account for 35 percent of the computers cleaned by the tool.”

Meanwhile, as The WashingtonPost observes, “The company said it was releasing the data to coincide with its TechEd 2006 conference, but the figures can only help Microsoft sell more subscriptions to its new OneCare Live anti-virus and computer security suite.”

Digg this story.

Also See:
Microsoft – The Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool: Progress Made, Trends Observed, June, 2006
Blaster worm – Microsoft and Blaster Master, March 30, 2005
The Washington Post – Microsoft Releases Windows Malware Stats, June 12, 2006

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 13th, 2006 at 9:30 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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