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Ratio of Malicious Downloading: Microsoft

Microsoft stated on Tuesday (May 17, 2011) that one out of every 14 programs downloaded by Windows users displays the presence of malicious software.

Although modern browsers are well equipped with security features that are designed to caution users and bar them from unsafe software, about 5% of these users generally ignore these alarms and ends up downloading spiteful Trojan horse programs.

Even till the past five years, it was quite effortless on the part of hackers to steal away or decode information from computers. Innumerable browser bugs were present and a lot of users were not even good at patching. But, at present, browsers have turned out to be more secure and software developers can easily take away patches, in case of any problem.

Additionally, instead of decoding the browsers, hackers utilize a method called social engineering. For instance, this method is utilized in spreading spam among users through social network Facebook. In the disguise of presenting important and spicy news, users were being attracted to click on a malicious program.

According to Alex Stamos, a founding partner with Isec Partners, a security consultancy, attackers are quite acquainted with the fact that users cannot be easily fooled around in downloading Trojans, as reported by COMPUTERWORLD on May 17, 2011.

These sort of social-engineering hackers also instigate into infecting victims by hacking into several web pages and exploding fake antivirus warnings that seems like messages from the operating system, "Download these and you're infected."

Enterprises are also prospective victims to a kind of social-engineering technique called spear phishing. In this technique, criminals take time to find out about their victims and create a special crafted program or a malevolent document to be enough attractive to the victims.

According to Joshua Talbot, a manager with Symantec Security Response, attackers are quite intelligent and take the full advantage of any event that may turn down or attract people's attention. On tracking down 50 most popular malicious program during 2010, Symantec revealed that 56% of the attacks contained Trojan horse programs, as reported by COMPUTERWORLD on May 17, 2011.

Related article: Red Condor Alerts Users of a New Virus in a Twitter Invitation

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