Chinese toolbars and Korean worms among global security threats
Microsoft cleaned malware from more than 40 million computers in the second half of 2010. It says China and Brazil have benefited significantly from the release of Microsoft Security Essentials last September.
According to the firm, the free security software has been particularly popular in the two countries and is the main reason for increases of 19.1 and 15.8 percent respectively in the number of machines it has cleaned up in the countries. The implication is that there hasn’t been an increase in malware as such in China and Brazil, it’s simply that it is now being dealt with more regularly.
The figures come from the latest edition of Microsoft’s twice-yearly Security Intelligence Report. It also notes some regional variations for the type of security threats. While in most countries “Miscellaneous Trojans” are the biggest problem, worms are the main threat in Brazil, Spain and Korea. In the latter case, one explanation may be the widespread popularity of Internet cafes and gaming centers, particularly as one worm targets online gamers.
China is also an unusual case, with most of its problems being specific to the country. These include a virus based on a toolbar for popular search site Baidu and password stealing viruses aimed at popular online games.
The report also suggests 64-bit editions of Windows may be safer as in most cases the infection rates (even as a proportion rather than a raw number) are around half those of the equivalent 32-bit edition. It doesn’t speculate whether this is because targeting 64-bit editions is any more complicated or if the lower user base means it’s less attractive to malware creators.
It’s also revealed that the number of machines infected through bogus security software is up by almost half in the space of six months. That may be because criminals find it easier to profit from such tactics, collecting credit card details from people who fall for “scareware” scams.
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