In
India, infection trends increased in the first half of 2011, in contrast to the
generally improved security scenario worldwide, according to Microsoft.
Looking
at various online threats, India beat the worldwide average for the analyzed
categories of Worms, miscellaneous Trojans, Adware, Viruses, Trojan downloaders
and droppers, and password stealers and monitoring tools.
In
the report, Microsoft highlights the fact that some of the more common threats can be mitigated
through good security best practices.
Worms
emerged as the single biggest problem in the country, at the end of the second
quarter of 2011 affecting 38.3 percent of all infected computers, over three
times the worldwide average.
Over
the same period, the second most common threat in India was miscellaneous
Trojans (which affected 33.6 percent of all infected computers, up from 33.3
percent in the previous quarter) although the threat from the third most common
category, potentially unwanted software, dropped two points to 30.7.
In
terms of the origins of global malicious websites and spam, India remains a
hotbed for unwanted botnets: 11.003 percent of all spambot IP addresses were
found to be located in India.
We
encourage people to consider this information when prioritizing their security
practices,” said Vinny Gullotto, general manager, Microsoft Malware Protection
Center.
SIRv11
provides techniques and guidance to mitigate common infection vectors, and its
data helps remind us that we can’t forget about the basics. Techniques such as
exploiting old vulnerabilities, Win32/Autorun abuse, password cracking and
social engineering remain lucrative approaches for criminals,” Gullotto added.
Globally,
a significant finding of the SIRv11 is that less than 1 percent of exploits in
the first half of 2011 were against zero-day vulnerabilities software
vulnerabilities that are successfully exploited before the vendor has published
a security update or patch.” In contrast, 99 percent of all attacks during the
same period distributed malware through familiar techniques, such as social
engineering and unpatched vulnerabilities.
By
Telecomlead.com Team
editor@telecomlead.com
