Malware infections tripled in late 2013 thanks to sneaky browser plugin, Microsoft says
Jeremy Kirk
May 7, 2014 7:55 AM
pcworld.com
excerpt
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.[snip] |
