Sanitizing Zombie Machines Large, But Not Enough

Software giant Microsoft lately disclosed that hacker software could now be removed with the help of its mechanism for software security from over 2m computers per month although that wasn't enough.

State the security researchers that it's greatly probable that PCs contaminated devoid of their owners knowing about it and those that cyber-criminals remotely control in the name of zombies will be included into botnets. The software company, during April-June 2010, sanitized 6.5m zombies resulting in a twofold increase in such disinfected machines from the same months of 2009.

Microsoft's researchers try to detail that the creators of zombies i.e. cyber-criminals, develop and load viruses onto users' PCs from a malware-laden file embedded on junk e-mail as an attachment, or from a contaminated website. Presently, botnet is the strongest online weapon on earth that's also used during wars for the same purpose, as it can be utilized for bringing down critical networks of a country's military via infecting their PCs with malware.

According to Mustaque Ahamad, Director of Georgia Tech Information Security Center (GTISC) which is another center for Internet security, botnets as well as malware of other kinds in addition to harming PCs and networks, destruct infrastructures and physical systems. Thus, one field that entails special worry is the area of healthcare. Infosecurity published this on October 14, 2010.

In the meantime, over 100m PCs are presently bot-contaminated and included into botnets. This is as per the statistics that M.A.D Partners compiled and mentioned in the "Emerging Cyber Threats Report 2010," reports Infosecurity.

Thus, with the existence of so many bot-infected systems, the process of sanitizing computers has become an expanding business. Microsoft and other security agencies strive for eliminating the clandestine computer program, which converts computers into zombies. Consequently, 25m or more 'zombie' PCs are being liberated from the infecting program, every year. Still the total number of contaminated PCs continues to be large.

Hence, Microsoft suggests that operating system developers and ISPs need to work together for speedily detecting infected computers as well as preventing their use online until they're purified. For, the botnet contamination will then be greatly reduced.

» SPAMfighter News - 10/29/2010