Service Packs & Infection Rates

1.  First it was windows XP..then it was SP1(Service Pack 1)...followed by SP2,SP3 ...further by Vista SP1,SP2 and now Windows 7...how the upgrades in these packs have been reducing the infection rates is briefly reflected as per stats from Microsoft Security Intelligence Report.

- Infection rate for windows XP with SP3 is less then half of that for SP2 and less then a third of SP1.

- Windows Vista SP2 has a lower inefction rate then SP1 which is about 50% lower then Windows Vista Basic.

- In case of Server Operating SystemS,the infection rate for windows server 2008 with SP2 is about 20% less then the predecessor ie Windows Server 2008 RTM.

2. Thanks http://www.microsoft.com/security/sir/

Root Kits : Hidden Undetected Threats

1. Malwares,trojans,adwares,spywares,virus,wormwares etc etc....protection vide Internet security editions by so many OEMs...and now rootkits(its not actually a recent development....)...has been in the threat making for about 10-12 years..but now the term is getting serious....so what actually are rootkits?

2. Rootkit is the term given to a group of utilities that hackers can misrepresent to keep access into a computer system once they have hacked into it. It gives them admission rights to find out usernames and passwords, allow strike against remote systems, remain hidden by erasing history from the system logs, and overabundance of various surreptitious tools.Rootkit is a combination of two words, “root” and “kit”. Root means supreme & Kit means a group of programs or utilities providing access to a user to retain a constant root-level contact to a terminal. The presence of rootkit ideally remains untraceable.

3. So more simply,they are a set of programs that can hide not only themselves but also other viruses, spyware, keyloggers and network traffic from normal antivirus and spyware removal software! Yes, a rootkit can infect your computer and take full control of it! You look inside a folder which contains rootkit files but you will see nothing. Why? Because the rootkit has told it to tell the user there are no files here. That is why, they are so dangerous and hard to detect......

4. BlackLight,RKDetector 2.0,RootkitBuster 1.6,RootkitRevealer 1.71 & Rootkit Unhooker 3.0A are few of the rootkit removal tools available...google for further details

5. Thanks http://www.rootkitonline.com/

Securelist.com : Informative attempt by Kaspersky Labs

1. Kaspersky has come up with the launch of a veri informative site on IT security with lots of articles and updates on various types of viruses/malwares etc.You can access the same by clicking here.

2. One interesting section by the name of "Internal threats" is available which should prove popular in future and also "Kaspersky Security Bulletin".