Microsoft eradicates password stealers from more than two million computers
A Microsoft automatic update has eradicated password stealing programs from more than two million computers. Writing on the TechNet blog, Matt McCormack says the company’s Malicious Software Removal Tool detected and erased Trojan horse programs designed to steal passwords from popular online games like World of Warcraft, Valve’s Steam Client and Lineage Online. Back on June 10, Microsoft sent an automatic update which upgraded the tool to fight against the password stealers and 700,000 machines were restored in just the first day.
Several malicious programs were wiped out, but most belong to the Win32/Taterf family which is actually a mutation of an earlier password stealing program. According to Microsoft data, China, Taiwan and Spain had the most infected machines. The software tool removed the Trojans from more than 500,000 machines in China alone. Approximately 213,000 machines were cleaned from the United States.
