Malware more likely in Windows 7 PCs than XP: Microsoft

[Sherlock.Homes]

The newly published Microsoft Security Intelligence Report (SIR) has said that the Windows 7PC is more at risk of having malware than XP computers.

Microsoft said that in the last quarter of 2013, the Windows 7 computers it scanned were more likely to be infected by malware than PCs running Windows XP. An infection rate of 2.59% was found for Windows 7 PC compared to 2.42% for XP.

Windows Vista was also affected by malware. Microsoft has calculated the infection rate for each version of Windows is calculated by comparing an equal number of computers per version.

The company said that infection rates jumped drastically from Q3 to Q4 2013 mainly due to the Rotbrow family of malware which presented itself as a browser add-on.

Microsoft Security Intelligence Report said that Windows 7 can provide better security than Windows XP if configured in a proper manner.

The infection rates measured in computers cleaned per thousand (CCM -- yes M, the Latin for thousand) rose from 5.6 in Q3 to 17.8 in Q4 of last year on the back of the Win32/Senfit click fraud bot.

The CCM rates for Vista and Windows 7 were higher than XP for the quarter. The report shows an infection rate of 25.9 percent for Windows 7, 32.4 percent for Vista and 24.2 percent for XP.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I have Malware Bytes on every computer. So far, nothing has gotten by.

[Mycroft Holmes]

Microsoft Security Intelligence Report (SIR)? ROFLMAO! I don't think there is any intelligence at Microsoft. In my opinion, Microsoft is malware.

[HomeGuy]

So - what exactly has it ever detected (that wasn't a false positive) ?

AV detection of new malware has been pathetic for the past 5 or 6 years. Just this past week I've submitted about 1/2 dozen malware files sent as email attachments to VirusTotal, and the detection rate has been anywhere from 0/52 to 5/52. Some of these are PDF files (real pdf, trying to leverage some adobe javascript vulnerability) or exe files claiming to be .scr (I know the difference is subtle).

I've run the infected files at Anubis and have downloaded the secondary payloads and submitted them to VT, and always get 0/52.

[sam E]

[snip]

There IS intelligence there. It's just being misused.

Since "malware" is any software on your computer that is under someone else's control and is intended (or used) for purposes contrary to what the owner wants, M$ stuff is malware.

BTW, because of my experiences with BASIC on home computers, I tend to read "M$" as "M-string" ('$' was used to indicate string variables).

[snip]

[trader_4]

Ther'e a surprise. Those out to screw the world are focused on new OS's that are widely used and increasing, instead of the decade old and declining one. Makes sense just from volume. Then factor in that since XP is a decade old, hackers have had that much time to find and exploit and flaws, while with Win 7, there is probably much more to look for and that hasn't been found/fixed.

[Oren]

+1

People would be best served by tending to their System Security Status. Belarc Advisor is free, will audit your system, provide hot links - pointing to ways to secure the system. People are just sloppy about it.

XP was the most dangerous OS release on the masses. Out of the box all ports were open.

Shields Up (port) testing can be done at:

(More than 94,405,250 shields tested!)

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, No routers in use? My first line of defense is router/firewall/AV software. I use Linux as much as I can. Actually my router is UTM class which gives little more security.

[Bob_Villa]

1st thing you don't want to do is take any advice from a home repair forum! *L*

[ChairMan]

In news: [e-mail], Oren belched:

I love getting the report that my puter does not exist or the UPnP answer THE EQUIPMENT AT THE TARGET IP ADDRESS Did not respond to our UPNP probes Spybot Search and Destroy is good, too

[Oren]

Stealth will not acknowledge the system exist or is sending data back. Best thing you can do to protect yourself.

(hide the fat girl) :)

[ChairMan]

that and use NoScript in FireFox, scripts will bite your ass quicker than anything these days. Also, Ccleaner helps keep your puter clean, every little bit helps keep the gremlins out. And your right about most being sloppy about it. Got a buddy that calls me all the time about his puter runnin shitty. Ask the standard questions to which he has no answer(or clue of what I'm asking). Wallk him through just a basic clean up. Which he never remembers from the last time and will not use anything but IE, which i tell him is his #1 problem Also, the most basic thing is, no matter who uses the puter, is to set up an Admin account and a user account. All real simple shit.

[Todd]

Hi Guys,

I do internal penetration testing for PCI (credit card compliance). Yes, with the customer's written permission!

You can not stealth a Windows computer. Sorry. No with any software firewall. I will find you. And I will charge you hours writing up reports about all your ports I find open and why.

Moral of the story: you can only protect Windows with an external *hardware* firewall.

This doesn't mean you shouldn't turn off all the Windows crap you can in an attempt to harden it.

1) turn off file and print sharing 2) remove IE (in add remove programs, Windows stuff) Flash Java Acrobat Reader (Foxit Reader works well) 3) run a decent Anti Virus (I like Kaspersky. Bit Defender does well too in tests.) 4) use Chrome, Firefox, and/or Thunderbird

And, I will still find you. But the bad guys will have a much harder time infecting you. (I won't find you behind an external hardware firewall that has been stealthed, but I will find you if I am on your internal network -- your permission and all.)

Or, use Fedora Linux, which is the most security hardened Linux. I can stealth a Fedora Linux Box. Windows is a security joke (all versions).

You can try Fedora Linux before you buy (it is free, open source) with their Live CD (not DVD):

If you decide to stay with Windows, the Live CD is a great tool to have around.

TIP: !!!!!

Here is a tip for Windows users. Junkware is not checked for by your Anti Virus because it is legal. You can remove it with my favorite utility: JRT (Junkware Removal Tool). I have make dozens of excruciatingly slow Windows computers come back to life with it:

JRT

-T

[Julie Bove]

Daughter got something from Facebook that attacks only Windows 7 OS's. First thing it did was disable Malwarebytes and her AV. Then it pretended to be her AV and told her that she needed to pay to remove the virus.

I wound up paying our local computer store to remove it. They said it is a PITA to remove and there was nothing she could have done to prevent getting it. She didn't use Facbook for a very long time after that though!

[rbowman]

And then you will find all the software that only works with IE.

[gfretwell]

I gave it a spin. It found some junk registry entries and removed a bunch of babylon stuff

[Todd]

Hi Rbowman,

1) you get in their faces and demand they follow proper web standards 2) find another software vendor that does 3) install "IE Tab V2" and configure it to ONLY run that web page as an IE window inside Firefox

You are taking your ass in your hands by running IE.

-T

[Todd]

I love that utility!

Removes the "Ask Toolbar(s)" from hell too.

[gfretwell]

I keep a pretty tight rein on junk. The babylon executive and startup was gone long ago but there was still some residual junk out there,

[ChairMan]

got a freind that works IT security at TI(TexasInstrument) and he says he very rarely has to deal with viruses these days, its mostly scripts and malware