http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9248166/Malware_infections_tripled_in_late_2013_Microsoft_finds
By Jeremy Kirk
IDG News Service
May 7, 2014
A three-fold increase in Microsoft Windows computers infected with
malicious software in late 2013 came from an application that was for some
time classified as harmless by security companies.
The finding comes as part of Microsoft's latest biannual Security
Intelligence Report (SIR), released on Wednesday, which studies security
issues encountered by more than 800 million computers using its security
tools.
In the third quarter of 2013, an average of 5.8 Windows computers out of
every 1,000 were infected with malware, said Tim Rains, director of
Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing division, which tracks security trends
targeting the company's widely used products. That jumped to about 17
computers per 1,000 for the last quarter of the year.
Rains attributed the rise to malware called "Rotbrow." The program
masquerades as a browser add-on called "Browser Protector" and is
supposedly a security product, Rains said by phone Wednesday. Rotbrow was
found on about 59 of every 1,000 computers using its security products, he
said.
[...]
--
Subscribe to InfoSec News
http://www.infosecnews.org/subscribe-to-infosec-news/
