New Stuxnet Malware Most Widespread in Indonesia and Iran

According to Microsoft, the newly found malware (which abuses a new Windows flaw) is mainly widespread in Indonesia and Iran. The malware that Microsoft named Stuxnet is the discovery of VirusBlokAda - a Belarusian antivirus company. The flaw apparently exists in how Windows handles shortcut icons and allows arbitrary code execution through the simple viewing of a folder carrying a maliciously created .LNK document.

Since the 3rd week of April 2010, Microsoft has been monitoring assaults by Stuxnet. With that, it has found that the malicious program attacked 1.60% of PCs running Microsoft anti-malware software from Microsoft in Iran, whereas Indonesia has a contamination rate of 1.29%. Thereafter, India is on No.3 with a 0.14% rate of infection. Ecuador, which follows India, occupies the fourth place, generating 0.06% of infections according to detections by (MMPC) Microsoft's malware Protection Center.

Interestingly, the US is much below at No.5 with merely 0.05% of Stuxnet strikes, as per MMPC.

Other countries where Stuxnet attacks emerged are - Taiwan, Lebanon and Pakistan, according to MMPC. In Lebanon and Pakistan, Stuxnet attacks accounted for 0.04% while in Taiwan, it was 0.03%. The total number of computers attacked by Stuxnet stand at a worldwide mean of 0.02%.

Notably, Microsoft cautions that there has been a rising trend in the total number of assaults for a single PC since July 6, 2010. Its security investigators post on the MMPC blog that although the infection rate on new computers has been steady at 1,000/day, the total number of attack trials has grown in the recent days, as reported by Softpedia on July 20, 2010.

With regard to attack vectors, majority of Stuxnet infectors come through electronic mails or websites that have been compromised and where the infectors are proclaimed that they're game cheats.

Microsoft is well conscious about the new danger and the company is inestingating it thoroughly. Meanwhile, it (the software giant) assures that it'll adopt all suitable measures for the protection of end-users from the malicious program.

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» SPAMfighter News - 30-07-2010

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