Glaswegian

Fake security software programs along with attacks using vulnerabilities in applications continued to pester Internet users in the last half of 2008, according to Microsoft's latest security report.

The bogus security software programs often offer a free scan that falsely says a user's computer is infected. If installed, the programs are ineffective against malicious software. Security experts have theorised that those behind the programs reap lucrative profits.

Microsoft detected two Trojan horse programs, Win32/FakeXPA and Win32/FakeSecSen, masquerading as security software on more than 3 million computers in the last six months of 2008, according to the company's Security Intelligence Report, published every six months.

With the Washington state attorney general, Microsoft launched eight lawsuits in September 2008 aimed at tracking down those responsible for perpetrating the scams.

Software vulnerabilities dropped 3 percent in the last half of 2008 compared to the first six months of the year, the report said. But more than half of all of the vulnerabilities were considered "high severity" under the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS). Also, more than half of those problems were considered pretty easy to exploit, putting Internet users at greater risk.

Microsoft software contained six of the top 10 browser-based vulnerabilities used by hackers against computers running Windows XP.

Hackers also continued to try to exploit older vulnerabilities in Microsoft applications. The most frequently exploited flaw in Microsoft Office, CVE-2006-2492, was patched more than two years ago yet is still targeted by 91.3 percent of attacks against the software suite.


http://www.techworld.com/security/ne...&NewsID=114056