Microsoft Study Sees Growing Threat of Computer Worms

Worldwide, the greatest threat remained attacks via fake security software. More than 13 million such attacks were blocked by computers with the help of Microsoft software in the first half of 2009. Nonetheless, a year ago, that figure was 16.8 million. Despite the higher risk of worm attacks, worms only make up about 6.7 percent of all attacks.

The danger of corporate computers becoming infected by worms has risen dramatically recently, according to a new study by Microsoft .

The study showed that, globally, the chances of infection by a computer worm had increased by almost 100 percent when comparing the first half of 2009 with the same six-month period in 2008.

The threat is focused mainly on business computers. Private users get off lightly, by comparison, partially because they are more likely than corporate customers to make sure their computers have the newest security software installed.

Germany and Austria both have PC infection rates significantly below the global average of 0.87 percent: 0.3 and 0.21 percent, respectively.

Germany usually performs well in such tests, said Microsoft spokesman and security expert Thomas Baumgaertner. That lies partially in the fact that Germany has a wide degree of penetration for fast DSL lines. That solid infrastructure insures that computer users regularly update their security software.

Despite the higher risk of worm attacks, the study say worms only make up about 6.7 percent of all attacks, meaning they are only the fourth most predominant threat. Trojan horse attacks claim first place in Germany, with 39.5 percent of all attacks. Enterprise Security Today

Security Report Finds Enterprise Infections Up 100 Percent

Enterprise worm infections jumped nearly 100 percent in the first half of 2009 from the previous six months, the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report says. Microsoft's SIRv7 cited Conficker as the top worm threat for enterprises with the Taterf worm close behind. Microsoft said enterprises need to focus on security updates and limit removable media.

Microsoft released its latest security intelligence report on Monday -- and the picture looks grim for enterprises. Enterprise worm infections rose nearly 100 percent in the first half of 2009 from the previous six months. In the same period, consumers continued to struggle with rogue software.


According to the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report (SIRv7), rogue security software remained the single largest threat category for the first half of 2009. Despite progress combating rogues, this is still a major issue for computer users. Also known as "scareware," rogue security software takes advantage of customers' desire to protect their computer from threats. News Factor

Microsoft: Worms Are Most Prevalent Security Problem

The Conficker worm continues to be one of the most prevalent threats facing PCs running Windows, according to a new security report published by Microsoft.

For the first six months of the year, Microsoft found that more than 5 million computers were infected with Conficker, according to its latest Security Intelligence Report.

Conficker spreads either by exploiting a vulnerability in the Microsoft Windows Server service, through infected removable media or brute-forcing weak passwords on other PCs. (See "Conficker Set to Strike: Protect Yourself with These Tips and Tools")

Conficker alarmed Microsoft so much when it appeared that Microsoft issued an emergency patch in October 2008 for the software vulnerability that allowed it to spread rapidly.

The worm is still circulating, mainly in enterprises, said Vinny Gullotto, general manager of the Microsoft Malware Protection Center. Due to its password-cracking ability, if Conficker gets on one PC in a company, it can often then rapidly spread.

Microsoft collects data on infections from its free security products such as Windows Defender, the Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT), Security Essentials as well as ones the company sells.

PC World

To Fight Worms, Use Ants

To combat worms, Trojans and other malware, a team of security researchers wants to use ants.

Not the actual live insects, of course, but computer programs modeled to act like ants in the way they roam a network and search for anomalies. "Ants aren't intelligent," says Glenn Fink, a senior research scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory who came up with the idea for the project, "but as a colony ants exert some very intelligent behavior."

According to Fink and one of his project partners, associate professor Errin Fulp of Wake Forest University, their in-the-works project uses distributed data-collecting sensors that are modeled after the six-legged natural creatures. But where ants may leave scent trails to guide other ants to a discovered threat or food source, Fink's sensors pass along collected data to other sensors in an attempt to identify anomalous behavior that may signal a malware infection in a large-scale network.

As information is collected, different varieties of ants may be activated to collect different types of data, Fink says. One might look for a higher-than-normal cpu usage, while another may check out network traffic.

And as with actual ant colonies, the system uses a hierarchy of programs. The sensor ants report to host-based sentinels that sit still and collect data from the ants, and the sentinels in turn are below sergeants, which are tasked with presenting data to humans and passing down their orders to the digital colony.

While early-stage tests of the system have successfully identified computer worms, "a lot of the higher-level reasoning has yet to be done," Fulp says. It's one thing to collect data from the insect-simulating sensors, and another to accurately interpret and process it.

The challenge, as Fink puts it, is, "How do you talk to an ant?"

PC World

PCs infected by identity theft malware up 600 percent

Friday, August 21, 2009
The number of computers infected by malware designed to steal personal or banking information for identity theft and fraud has shot up 600 percent in the past year, according to a report from web security firm Panda Security.Panda's security research division, PandaLabs, has captured samples of 11 million new malware threats so far this year, approximately 8 million of which are Trojans - a type of malware that is disguised as a non-threatening file.Trojan malware can be used to track keystrokes to steal login information and passwords for banking websites or can come in the form of fake banking or other websites for phishing user information."One of the possible reasons for this increase is the economic crisis. This in conjunction with organizations that have made a business out of selling personal information on the black market, such as credit card numbers, PayPal or eBay accounts is what we can attribute the rise to," said Luis Corrons, technical director of PandaLabs.PandaLabs estimates that approximately 3 percent of all users have fallen victim to theft through online attacks.
MX Logic