Malware infections tripled in late 2013, Microsoft finds

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

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.

[...]



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