Earlier this week, I received a phone call via Skype on my laptop, the caller’s ID was “ dralerthelpzc8 ” as in Dr Alert Help ZC8 . The voice on the other end was automated, computerized and otherwise non-human, and alerted me that I had a virus that affects Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows 7 and...

This month, Worm:Win32/Hamweq has been added to the Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) in time for the holidays. Hamweq makes it on to MSRT’s “naughty” list as an IRC-controlled backdoor that spreads via removable drives. It has multiple means of hiding its presence; it installs itself into a hidden...

Almost a year ago , we started a project designed to monitor incoming attacks against a normal user on a day-to-day basis. We presented you with details about the geographical area from where the attacks originated and what services were targeted, and we gave you just a hint about FTP dictionary-based...

Today marks the beginning of National CyberSecurity Awareness Month here in the United States. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge all the security professionals around the world who work tirelessly to make cyberspace a safer place for all our online pasttimes. You know who you are....

The Microsoft Malware Protection Center (MMPC) would like to introduce you to Microsoft’s new security program - Microsoft Security Essentials . The MMPC is very excited about this release, which should help us to protect more customers around the world at no cost. Here’s a note from the Microsoft...

We’ve been working hard, have heard your feedback, and are excited to announce V2 of the MMPC Portal ! This new portal contains several new features including stream-lined sample submission and tracking, which is made possible by creating an MMPC profile. When you log in, the information saved in your...

Microsoft Security Essentials is a new, no-cost, anti-malware solution for genuine Windows PC consumers that provides real-time protection against viruses, spyware and other malicious threats. It is a lightweight, effective and modern anti-malware which runs on 32 bit and 64 bit Windows 7, Windows Vista...

You might find it hard to believe, but that’s the number of new unique malware samples we detect on average every day in the wild. During the second half of 2008 our products detected a total of nearly 95 million unique malicious files. The total number of distinct malware files we detect every day in...

Here at the Microsoft Malware Protection Center (MMPC) we look for ways to share the valuable data, insights and expertise that we have with our customers on a regular basis. We just released the sixth volume of our Microsoft Security Intelligence Report (SIR). The SIR shares the conclusions drawn by...

Where you can find it: www.microsoft.com/security/portal/beta How you can give us feedback: Please give us feedback via MS Connect or directly from the MMPC Portal V2 Beta . So now that the important details have been shared, let’s talk about the more interesting part: What is it? The MMPC Portal V2...

After quite a while with no new activity, there's a new Virut variant. We detect the new variant as Virus:Win32/Virut.BM . Like the previous versions, Virut is a polymorphic file infecting virus that infects PE executable files like EXE and SCR files. The virus also opens a backdoor connection to an...

Since the time Microsoft released security update MS08-067 , we have released information about MS08-067 exploits and specifically about the Conficker worm in our malware encyclopedia and in multiple blog posts for example here . This blog provides a summary of the available information Microsoft has...

“Now that Inauguration Day is upon the US, malware authors have a new spate of social engineering tricks up their sleeve.” We've seen Barack Obama's name used by malware authors for malevolent purposes before, during the campaign and leading up to the US Presidential Elections. Now that Inauguration...

Two days ago, we blogged about attacks that involve exploits of the recently discovered vulnerability in Internet Explorer. We would like to give you a quick update about these attacks. Based on our stats, since the vulnerability has gone public, roughly 0.2% of users worldwide may have been exposed...

The MSRC released a security advisory yesterday about a vulnerability in Internet Explorer. Just like our colleagues at the MSRC , we're tracking the situation very closely as we've observed the vulnerability exploited in the wild, however within a relatively limited context. Virtually all the malicious...

Microsoft released a security update today that fixes a vulnerability that affects all supported versions of Windows. On some versions of Windows, an unauthenticated attacker can remotely execute code on a vulnerable computer. Basically if file sharing is enabled and the security update is not installed...

Hi, Vinny here Welcome to our newly refreshed blog! We wanted to create a new home for the Microsoft Malware Protection Center (MMPC) blog that was easier to navigate, and more in synch with our security colleagues within Microsoft such as the Microsoft Security Response Center . If you are new to our...