Backdoors, Bots Biggest Threats To Windows
Backdoor Trojans are a clear and present danger to Windows machines, Microsoft said Monday as it released the first-ever analysis of data collected by the 15-month run of its Malicious Software Removal Tool, a utility that seeks out and destroys over five-dozen malware families.
According to Microsoft's anti-malware engineering team, Trojans that, once installed, give an attacker access and control of a PC, are a "significant and tangible threat to Windows users."
Of the 5.7 million unique PCs from which the Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) has deleted malware, 3.5 million of them -- 62 percent -- had at least one backdoor Trojan.
"Backdoor Trojans are a large part of the malware landscape," said Matt Braverman, program manager on the team, and the author of a report on the tool's data that was released Monday at Boston's TechEd 2006 conference.
