A security and malware report released by Microsoft has highlighted the threat of backdoor Trojans, with data from Microsoft suggesting that at least one backdoor Trojan was present in 62% of computers. Bots, which are distributed by malicious users in order to take control of a computer and turn it into a zombie machine, were found by Microsoft to be the most prevalent type of Trojan.
A new and rising threat is that of rootkits, present in 14% of computers. It appears that the Sony BMG rootkit was relatively widespread, as without it the number of computers with a rootkit present falls to 9%. Rootkits and Trojans seem to go hand in hand, as in 20% of cases where a rootkit was found present there was also a Trojan lurking behind.
The top malware according to Microsoft:
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Win32/Rbot – 4,431,422 removals, present on 1,914,046 computers
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Win32/Sdbot – 1,507,546 removals, present on 677,619 computers
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Win32/Parite – 946,024 removals, present on 330,337 computers
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Win32/Gaobot – 794,575 removals, present on 260,091 computers
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WinNT/FURootkit – 762,662 removals, present on 386,304 computers
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