A recent report by Sophos claimed that the new Windows
Vista operating system is wide open to nearly 40% of the malware
currently circulating.
And Microsoft has admitted that there is little it can do about
threats such as Stratio-Zip, Netsky-D and MyDoom-O, because they
rely on social engineering to invade systems. According to Sophos,
the three threats together account for 39.7% of currently
circulating malware.
While the e-mail system built into Vista, Windows Mail Client,
stops all of the top 10 viruses identified by Sophos for November,
the three threats outlined can infect systems when a third-party
e-mail client is used, Sophos said. Stratio-Zip was November’s top
malware, accounting for one-third of virus traffic, it added.
There are few actual installations of Vista since the operating
system has only just been launched. Sophos and McAfee have
antivirus products ready for Vista, but Symantec, Trend Micro and
CA are said to be still working on theirs.
Microsoft is probably right in thinking there’s little that it
can do to build ‘anti-social engineering’ measures into its
products. That’s down to good old-fashioned human nature.
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