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November 3, 2008
Microsoft Says Malware Is Routing Around Its OS
Microsoft’s latest security report says:
“… there was a 43 percent rise in malware and ‘potentially unwanted software’ during the first half of 2008. Potentially unwanted software is generally a program, similar to adware, that may not prey on a vulnerability or exhibit the classic characteristics of malware but can nonetheless expose a user’s data or activity history to a third party.
“It may not seem like it given the recent high-profile, off-schedule patch, but the company has observed that malware coders are targeting applications, increasingly foregoing the operating system. According to the company’s data, only 10 percent of disclosed vulnerabilities belonged to an operating system. The rest, 90 percent, affected applications.
“In addition to the apparent reprieve operating systems are getting, Microsoft is reporting an improvement in its own efforts to button up the company’s software. Compared to the latter half of 2007, the number of vulnerabilities attributable to Microsoft during the first half of the year plunged 33.6 percent.”
(Link)
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