The numbers startle about destructive software

Many Windows computers have been turned into zombies, but fortunately, the rootkit is not really popular.

One finding that startled people was that after 311 system scans, the company's security tool - the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (WMSRT), found a computer sticking with malware (malware).

The data that Microsoft published is remarkable, because it was collected from more than 270 million customers using WMSRT - the tool that was released with Windows operating system.

Source: SecurityLabs Between January 2005 and March 2006, WMSRT removed more than 16 million types of software that infested all types of computers within 5.7 million computers. It was used to scan the system 2.7 billion times and detect "suspicious faces" at a rate of 0.32%, ie equivalent to 1/311 scans.

In the past few years, there have been no really strong outbreaks of virus, but users have to face other threats such as identity theft, rootkits, and phishing. What does Microsoft think about this fact, that things are improving or are they actually worse?

" A difficult question to answer, " Matthew Braverman, Microsoft's anti-malware director shrugged. Braverman notes that it is "impossible" to record a panorama of the bad guys' actions, but it seems that the situation is a little better.

During the 15-month follow-up, Microsoft found that the number of malware spreads fell from 53 worms, rootkits and viruses to 41. And in fact, the 21 variants were also a big "progress" decreased by 71% compared to 2 years ago.

" Obviously the malware problem has become brighter ," Braverman said.

Trojan - the most common threat

The backdoor Trojan is the most significant, most visible risk for Windows users, Microsoft said.

After sticking to the backdoor Trojan, the computer can be hijacked by a hacker and turned into a zombie at any time. Many zombies combine into a botnet and this is a tool for hackers to "control" and perform their missions.

And yet, hackers steal users' personal information, install spyware and adware on the computer in order to gain more compensation from advertisers.

After Trojan is an email worm - they have been detected and removed from more than 1 million computers.

The form of attack in which a victim is tricked into running malware is the most common form. The worm spreads via email, P2P networks and IM chat software accounts for more than a third of the computers that Microsoft tools scan.

Rootkit-threat has not revealed

Source: SecurityLabs However, not the malware that Braverman's group found comes from hackers.

The best example is Sony BMG Music's "famous" rootkit software. This rootkit has been found on 420,000 times and installed on more than 250,000 computers. This shows that many users have . reinstalled this rootkit after deleting them from the device.

After the scandal, Sony was forced to recall millions of CDs containing the above-mentioned rootkit software. Things get worse when hackers start exploiting this rootkit to spread malicious software.

Microsoft said the trend of shaking hands on rootkits and other forms of malware will continue and increase in the near future. They found that rootkits in 14% of computers were infected with worms, viruses, and Trojans of all kinds.

WMSRT is available in 24 languages, for Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 users. The latest version is capable of detecting and removing 61 different malware families. You can access and install it from the Microsoft website.

Thien Y