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Can trusted software really be trusted?
By Anthony Ashard of CTEK-Solutions
These days we are becoming ever more reliant on our computers for bill paying, online banking, shopping and a whole host of other supposedly secure activities. However regardless of how well you believe your computer may be protected, it's constantly at risk of infection and attack from malicious software. I previously wrote an intel entitled How quickly can you get infected? which discloses the nasty but true fact that an average new computer can get infected in as little as twenty minutes! Even with an up-to-date effective firewall and anti-virus software, a computer can still become infected yet not start showing signs of infection for some while after, so finding the originating source can prove difficult, and can lead to re-infection. Once infected, a computer can be used to communicate your private details and even be used as a clone server to attack and infect other computers. There are close to a million types of spyware and malware alone, this figure is sadly on the increase, one particular threat dubbed 'Virtumundo' also known as 'VirtualMundo' and 'VirtuMonde' is capable of self replication and automatic renaming, bringing the total variances to a staggering 300,000 with new variances being generated daily, but still only represents 2.11% of all malicious threats detected in 2009. Quote from:Sunbelt Software
'Trojan-Spy.Win32.Zbot.gen has topped the Sunbelt's malware list as it was responsible for causing 6.34% of the overall malicious infections detected in May 2009. It is reported to be a Trojan horse that steals user password and exists in different versions.'
6.34% may not seem allot but when weighed up against how many different types of infection there are, 6.34% is a large figure for just one specific threat. Yesterday I turned on my computer, to find it kept 'hanging' for no apparent reason, so I performed the usual full scans with Comodo anti-virus and SpyBot S&D, nothing was detected in both scans, however the frequent 'hangs' continued. Today a friend of mine recommended an anti-spyware utility called StopZilla. So driven by desperation to regain control of my computer and avoid a total wipe of the operating system, I gave StopZilla a try. I was both shocked and amazed to find that StopZilla found no less than 45 malicious threats lurking on my computer. seventeen of those threats were serious trojan threats! For now, my computer is once again behaving itself. If you think your computer is clean, THINK AGAIN!
Don't take the chance of becoming a 2010 statistic.
Try StopZilla, you may well be as surprised as I was... Even seasoned computer users may not be aware of an infection until your computer shows visible signs, often by then it's too late, mainly because we foolishly place too much trust in one anti-virus solution that says the computer is free of infection, when it's not!
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Contributor's Note
I Know a thing or two about malicious software, but can still fall foul of such infections.
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Safer Networking - Anti Spyware
| COMODO - World leading Internet security
Don't think you're safe, know you're safe!
PLEASE VISIT THE CONTRIBUTOR'S WEBSITE
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It`s frightening to think of all the nasties that can be picked up on our computers. The people who send out these infections always seem to be upping their game, unfortunately. Thanks for the timely reminders, Anthony, nice Intel.
 |  | odls Jan 22, 2010 07:38 | |
Thank you for sharing this valuable intel, Anthony.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Keep up the great intels.
Best wishes.
Frederick
I will give StopZilla a look, sounds amazing.
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This content may not be copied, distributed or adapted by anyone under any circumstances.
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This intel was contributed by Puniksem
Puniksem
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May, 2012
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