RSSBackdoor Trojans are Biggest Windows Threat
By Ed Oswald | Published October 25, 2006, 11:13 AM
Zombies continue to be the biggest threat to Windows security, Microsoft said Monday. During the six months from January to June 2006, over 43,000 new variants of so-called "backdoor Trojans" were discovered.
Additionally, the company said at least 50 percent of the computers it cleaned during the period with the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool contained at least one backdoor Trojan. While this may seem quite high, it was a decrease from last year's 68 percent figure.
Behind the backdoor Trojan, the second biggest threat was the keylogger, with 27,154 variants discovered. This was followed by the downloader with 13,039 variants, the regular Trojan with 4,497 variants, and the mass mailer with 3,426.
"Backdoor Trojans and bots continue to comprise a significant percentage of the malicious software detected by Microsoft anti malware offerings and therefore serve as a top threat to consumers and businesses alike," Microsoft said in the report.
Although rookits have received a lot of attention in recent times due to Sony's use of the malware to protect its music CDs from illicit copying, their usage continues to be rare. In fact, attacks decreased 50 percent during the period and were ninth overall in rate of occurrence.
There is a perfect Virus, back door Trojan, Trojan, Spyware, and Keylogger remover with a perfect track record of not a single error or breach in tens of millions of computers using this program. There have been trillions of attempted breaches but not one single breach ever. The Malware remover removes the scourge of every Windows user alive today potentially saving tens of billions of dollars in malware removals and data loss, for those smart enough to think and able to think for themselves. As a side benefit using this malware remover also adds best of class software for all the tasks you may have wished you could do but found your current choices too crappy or expensive. This malware remover can be purchased with the most advanced hardware technology available and comes free when doing so. The application is called OS-X. You know the program Microsoft has been trying to catch up to for decades but always seems to be ten years behind.
Score: 0
|Don't mistake the fact that Mac's aren't a big enough target for hackers to go after them as meaning that they are bulletproof. While Microsoft has a horrible security record, Macs have vulnerabilities too. All the Mac peole I know seem to share this attitude and don't download updates or run any kind of software for protection... one day a serious Mac worm is going to hand the Mac community is going to be caught with their pants down.
Score: 0
|We came across a nasty virus/malware/rootkit bug recently that was the hardest thing we've had to remove in years. It's was a modified version of Haxdoor, we think, but crippled the systems when it malfunctioned (STOP 0x0000008E).
Nasty! Six anti-spyware programs and it still wasn't removed. Pain in the butt. :P
Score: 0
|I forget its name, but the adware/spyware remover that
ATT offered said that some stuff that Spybot had zipped
up was a threat, and said that Winzip's remembering my
last opened zip was horrible.
It also said that Go!zilla, my DL manager was a threat
because of the Aureate DLL which is not part of the ver I have.
100% of the threats it reported weren't, but none-
theless, my system is forever in their stats.
50 Percent? I'll bet that's marketing's number, not
reality.
Score: 0
|A marketing number?? Youre kidding!! You mean Microsoft isn't infallible truth?
Of course it isn't real-world--NOTHING is except the real world itself, people. Even if it was exactly 50%, by the time I finish typing this sentence, the numbers will have changed, so take this stuff with a grain of salt.
P.S. : GoZilla does still have some adware components in it last I heard...
Score: 0
|Biggest threat next to dumb users i suspect....
Score: 0
|Agreed. It starts with not being an idiot when you use your computer online.
Score: 0
|That's what I thought too, until I had to deal with one.
I do agree dumb users are a big problem, but be careful what you say is all, otherwise by your own definition you may become a 'dumb user' in the future :D
Score: 0
|"Additionally, the company said at least 50 percent of the computers it cleaned during the period with the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool contained at least one backdoor Trojan."
Based on the number of false positives that have shown up during beta testing of OneCare, I wouldn't trust that number completely. Still, I don't doubt that trojans are a significant problem.
Score: 0
|"Zombies continue to be the biggest threat to Windows security, Microsoft said Monday. During the six months from January to June 2006, over 43,000 new variants of so-called "backdoor Trojans" were discovered.
Additionally, the company said at least 50 percent of the computers it cleaned during the period with the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool contained at least one backdoor Trojan. While this may seem quite high, it was a decrease from last year's 68 percent figure."
What'd I tell you? Read my note from the Windows Defender review--lack of complete trojan detection cripples that program. As I said, remove viruses, adware, spyware, and malware all day--if those downloaders aren't eradicated simultaneously, they will come back in less than a second. This is why Norton, McAfee, and other 'popular' antivirus programs simply fail to eradicate malware. They kill the viruses, but those "revisions of revisions" of trojans that come out new every single day? There's the problem.
Score: 0
|Agreed. A very tough situation where variants and downloaders are not detected by AV software. Like the B-man said, its just going to get worse since virus writers and malware programs have become increasingly crafty in terms of detection avoidance...
Score: 0
|Holy crap, if "During the six months from January to June 2006, over 43,000 new variants" isn't a seller for anyosbutwindows nothing is.
Score: 0
|