Many ‘Protected’ Computers Laden with Malware

When computer users scanned their systems on 'Infected or Not' Website in the third week of October 2007, it was found that 32% of those who had installed a security solution on their PCs had infected machines while for those who hadn't installed security products, 44.71% had malware on their PCs.

Commenting on the data, Technical Director of PandaLabs, Luis Corrons, said that it shows that despite protection installed on computers and users feeling secured, there could still be infection on many PCs. Conventional security solutions in the prevailing online scenario is now insufficient to counter today's threats. Therefore, they must be supported with solutions more powerful, such as TotalScan and NanoScan, Corrons emphasized. Financial Mirror reported this on October 20, 2007.

Among the new samples of malware that emerged in the week, PandaLabs has picked up for study the Winko.G, Destructor.A and UzaScreener.A worms.

The Winko.G malware downloads and executes malicious code on the vulnerable PC. The worm's variants are from the families of Gamania and Lineage trojans that steal sensitive passwords of accounts relating to online games. For spreading, the worm makes its copies and transmits them to other available drives. It also targets the Windows registry by creating new entries and deletes system error messages.

The Destructor.A worm damages computers by terminating the processes of security applications like firewalls or anti-viruses. As a result, the computer becomes vulnerable to possible threats. This malware too targets Windows registry so that it can run on every restart of the system.

The UzaScreener.A worm creates a My_Personal_Data Windows folder to reach a computer. Users who attempt to open it would allow the worm to run. Among the harmful activities, it changes the Desktop wallpaper and shows its own-created images, when the computer starts up. It also changes the Display properties' configuration and deactivates the Task Manager. The worm spreads through mapped and shared drives.

In the same week, PandaLabs collected information regarding the first spam samples of the MP3 format.

In other news, Panda Security advised business organizations to safeguard themselves against online threats like the Downloader.PSJ Trojan and the Netsky.P worm.

Related article: Man Sues and Wins against ISP for Spamming Mail

» SPAMfighter News - 11/7/2007