Conficker is Top Threat - ESET

The Win32/Conficker Virus is Now Spreading Massively in Ireland, Highlighting Inadequate Software Patching

The Win32/Conficker virus has spread massively in Ireland in April, gaining a monthly infection share of 7.18%, and highlighting the prevalence of inadequate software patching practices here, according to the monthly Top Computer Threats Report for last month produced by Anti-Virus Speciaist ESET.

With Conficker now in existence for over two years, Irish computer users should by now be taking it seriously, by applying the Microsoft Windows patches, which effectively neutralise the threat, as described in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-067. The Conficker removal tool can also be downloaded from ESET's site.

The second most rampant threat in April was INF/Autorun, a virus which specialises in infecting removable media such as USB keys. This malicious activity results in execution of malware each time the infected Key is inserted into another system.

Scoring a share of 3.97%, Win32/Agent viruses were ranked third. ESET uses this label to commonly refer to a group of harmful applications with the capability to expose user data.

The fourth most noticed threat last month was Win32/Oficle (with a 1.90% share),a Trojan- downloader that upon infection downloads more malware from the Internet. It also listens in to commands from remote attackers, which can make users computers be used in attacks on networks and other illegal activities.

Ranked fifth in the ESET malware list for Ireland, Win32/Qhost is a type of malware designed to infiltrate Windows system folders and hand over the control of the infected computer to a remote attacker.

The Ireland: Top Computer Threats in April, 2010 Report is based on threats encountered by ESET's ThreatSense.Net antivirus engine,which gathers and analyses malware data from users of ESET Smart Security and ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

The full Global Threat Report for April 2010, which also includes informative articles about Free Antivirus, InfoSecurity, Apple Security, False Positives and Search Engine Optimisation is available below:

http://www.eset.ie/threat-center/case_study/GlobalThreatTrendsApril2010.pdf

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