AfterDawn: Tech news

1 in every 14 downloads is malware, says Microsoft

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 May 2011 11:22 User comments (20)

1 in every 14 downloads is malware, says Microsoft According to Microsoft, one in every fourteen downloads is malware, and that Internet Explorer 8 and 9 blocks up to 5 million attacks, daily.
The figures come alongside a post boasting of the Application Reputation mechanism in Internet Explorer 9.

AR uses URL-based tactics to see if the site uses malware, and also check links and files.

Says Jeb Haber, the program manager lead for SmartScreen says:

Using reputation helps protect users from newly released malware programs - pretending to be legitimate software programs - that are not yet detected by existing defense mechanisms.

Reputation also enables IE9 to remove unnecessary warnings for downloads with an established positive reputation. Both publishers and individual applications build reputation. For example, a digitally signed application from a well-known publisher that has been widely downloaded has a better reputation than an unsigned application that has not yet been downloaded widely and has just been posted on a newly created Web site.




Furthermore, the manager adds:

From our experience operating these services at scale, we have found that 1 out of every 14 programs downloaded is later confirmed as malware.

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20 user comments

119.5.2011 08:01

Known this for a while.
I never use IE6,7,8,9.

On a different note, Mac fanboys must be very upset now that their beloved Apple has garnered a big enough market share to have idiots write viruses, malware ect....

"My Mac is impervious to such things PC owners get."
Hahahaha..
Jeff

219.5.2011 09:28

Great comment on the Mac. How true!

As for IE8,9.............it claims to reduce breaches yet I tested 9 immediately on a bunch of porn sites and shit just popped up like there was no pop-up blocker at all. Then I tested same sites on Firefox 4 and no pop-ups.

My point is, IE.x is crap and should be erradicated completely!

319.5.2011 10:16

I quit telling rubes about Firefox just so I could help keep Firefox numbers down....

419.5.2011 11:08

Originally posted by Jeffrey_P:
Known this for a while.
I never use IE6,7,8,9.

On a different note, Mac fanboys must be very upset now that their beloved Apple has garnered a big enough market share to have idiots write viruses, malware ect....

"My Mac is impervious to such things PC owners get."
Hahahaha..
Jeff
That article was just music to my articles, now people can finally understand that the mac computer isn't virus free and it was only a matter of time.

519.5.2011 11:23

Originally posted by biglo30:
Originally posted by Jeffrey_P:
Known this for a while.
I never use IE6,7,8,9.

On a different note, Mac fanboys must be very upset now that their beloved Apple has garnered a big enough market share to have idiots write viruses, malware ect....

"My Mac is impervious to such things PC owners get."
Hahahaha..
Jeff
That article was just music to my articles, now people can finally understand that the mac computer isn't virus free and it was only a matter of time.
Where did all the Mac fanboys go on AD? Must likely hiding under a rock.
Jeff

619.5.2011 11:59

Originally posted by themind:
I quit telling rubes about Firefox just so I could help keep Firefox numbers down....

And to keep us IT/computer/tech people in business too. :)

719.5.2011 14:28
YoJembo01
Inactive

How do you guys get all that from that article?

LOL

Not that I'm an Apple fan... I always use Puppy to do my finances on. :)

819.5.2011 16:14

Originally posted by YoJembo01:
How do you guys get all that from that article?

LOL

Not that I'm an Apple fan... I always use Puppy to do my finances on. :)
Just embellishing it a bit.:0

Puppy Linux is very cool. I just haven't found a real purpose for me to use it quite yet. Linux also has ugly bugs out there waiting for users. If Linux ever gets the user base Windows and Mac trap you will see a lot more crap without a doubt.
Jeff

919.5.2011 16:26
Zoo_Look
Inactive

I wonder if the same study confirms or denies if 1 in every 14 downloads is IE?

1019.5.2011 23:22

What is the math on windows updates? I just reinstalled Win7x64sp1 on my laptop, and at least one in 14 of them were malware...there were at least two crummy security tools that it wanted to install, a sound driver that killed my audio and also installed a whole suite of autostarting bulls**t, and worse of all, IE9!

1120.5.2011 05:35

Originally posted by KillerBug:
What is the math on windows updates? I just reinstalled Win7x64sp1 on my laptop, and at least one in 14 of them were malware...there were at least two crummy security tools that it wanted to install, a sound driver that killed my audio and also installed a whole suite of autostarting bulls**t, and worse of all, IE9!
M$ just tried to "update" me to an outdated version of my NIC driver.

1220.5.2011 07:50
Zoo_Look
Inactive

Originally posted by KillerBug:
What is the math on windows updates? I just reinstalled Win7x64sp1 on my laptop, and at least one in 14 of them were malware...there were at least two crummy security tools that it wanted to install, a sound driver that killed my audio and also installed a whole suite of autostarting bulls**t, and worse of all, IE9!
The cure for all of that is a large hammer!

Originally posted by Xplorer4:
M$ just tried to "update" me to an outdated version of my NIC driver.
Strange you say that. I was offered an update on driver software for my Wireless card too, which promptly failed to re-initialise. Perhaps they are not MS certified cards... after all, the drivers MUST work as they were written by MS... right?

1320.5.2011 08:22

Originally posted by hearme0:
Great comment on the Mac. How true!

As for IE8,9.............it claims to reduce breaches yet I tested 9 immediately on a bunch of porn sites and shit just popped up like there was no pop-up blocker at all. Then I tested same sites on Firefox 4 and no pop-ups.

My point is, IE.x is crap and should be erradicated completely!
Oh really.. Do that again and post it live on Youtube showing that you did not cripple IE9 at all or Firefox for that matter... I have to use a few browsers because I work in a lab environment and I have found that IE9 is one of if not the top browser out today. Faster than Chrome and more secure than FF. but I would love to see your results.

1420.5.2011 11:07

Originally posted by Jeffrey_P:
Originally posted by YoJembo01:
How do you guys get all that from that article?

LOL

Not that I'm an Apple fan... I always use Puppy to do my finances on. :)
Just embellishing it a bit.:0

Puppy Linux is very cool. I just haven't found a real purpose for me to use it quite yet. Linux also has ugly bugs out there waiting for users. If Linux ever gets the user base Windows and Mac trap you will see a lot more crap without a doubt.
Jeff
Agreed.

Just for the record. I run Puppy distro off an SD card. It is actually recommended by the NSW Cybercrime squad, not Apple (well iOS was too till it became multitasking).

I am not silly, I use Windows normally (Vipre Premium protected) but Puppy for banking and buying/paying for stuff online. I also employ an obscure but workable browser Seamonkey which the bank complains as unrecognisable but it works fine- heh.

We use a Credit Card with min credit and we top it up if we want to go over $500. Go hibernate on the lappy > load Puppy via the boot menu > business > back where we were in win7 in under 5 mins. Too easy.

That's all I use Puppy/Seamonkey for... finances. It's good for that. Just because a nasty can get at one type of Linux does not mean it simultaneously gets at all of them. I know it's "security-through-obscurity" but, hey, you don't get much more obscure than that! :P

1520.5.2011 11:13

Originally posted by bw5011:
Originally posted by hearme0:
Great comment on the Mac. How true!

As for IE8,9.............it claims to reduce breaches yet I tested 9 immediately on a bunch of porn sites and shit just popped up like there was no pop-up blocker at all. Then I tested same sites on Firefox 4 and no pop-ups.

My point is, IE.x is crap and should be erradicated completely!
Oh really.. Do that again and post it live on Youtube showing that you did not cripple IE9 at all or Firefox for that matter... I have to use a few browsers because I work in a lab environment and I have found that IE9 is one of if not the top browser out today. Faster than Chrome and more secure than FF. but I would love to see your results.
I think all you have to do is head over to LifeHacker for the comparisons.

Oh, and don't ever load up the wireless adapters from MS... they NEVER work.


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This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 20 May 2011 @ 11:15

1620.5.2011 20:59

hearmed0
Funny, I got lots of porn sites, daily! However, have nt had your experience with IE9. In addition, in inprivate mode there is no history of my surf. Leave those cheap porn sites alone and go to the uptown sites. That will fix the problem!

1720.5.2011 21:16
Zoo_Look
Inactive

Is everyone assuming all pop-up or pop-unders are porn. I get more of those in relation to on-line gambling sites frankly.

As far as browser/site compatibility goes, allot of those can be overcome simply by using a user-agent switcher. Firefox (my browser of choice) runs faster on the MS update site then any version of IE I ever used!

1821.5.2011 10:29

Chrome loads in about a third of the time it takes for IE8. I can't speak to any security comparisons, though.

1921.5.2011 11:49

Originally posted by KillerBug:
What is the math on windows updates? I just reinstalled Win7x64sp1 on my laptop, and at least one in 14 of them were malware...there were at least two crummy security tools that it wanted to install, a sound driver that killed my audio and also installed a whole suite of autostarting bulls**t, and worse of all, IE9!
It is a good rule of thumb not to ever use MS for hardware driver support for your PC. It is a 50-50 shot that it will work and be an improvement but when it does load the wrong thing and it happens way too often then you have a problem.


I don't even come close to believing the 1 of 14 bologna, it truly depends on where you are downloading from. I get more nasty’s from porn type sites than any other sites however I've found news sites to be pretty dangerous too. Most sites I go to are pretty safe so my percentage of nasty’s might be 1 in 1000 or even better. If I peruse porn sites my percentage might be on the basis of 1 in 3.

Typical MS marketing BS.

I really didn’t see how this had anything to do with Apple must have been a good party though as some are still hallucinating apparently. LOL

2021.5.2011 17:10
Zoo_Look
Inactive

Maybe 1 in every 14 downloads is either from a Linux box, or a Linux ISO image or OS download... or some other freeware of some description.

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