Microsoft and Symantec Save The Day

By: Zain Nabi  |   February 8th, 2013   |   News

Microsoft and Symantec have foiled down an effort, which could have been a very huge cyber crime, by shutting down thousands of computers without the knowledge of their users, Reuters has reported.

 

After shutting the computers, Microsoft is now offering free tools to the owners to clean their systems and continue using them as before. Microsoft and Symantec took down Bamital botnet that hijacked search results of any user and redirected them to dangerous websites that would install malware onto their computer. Furthermore, there was a threat of identity theft and other criminal activities.

 

This threat mainly focused on exploiting search engines including those offered by Yahoo, Microsoft and Google, and it also affectedonline advertising platform. The online advertising industry has a number of ways to generate revenue and clicking ads is one of them. The infected computers generated a large number of clicks automatically on these ads without the knowledge of the owners.

 

Explaining the complaints it had received and the serious nature of this threat, Microsoft posted on its official blog:

 

“In one instance, Microsoft investigators found that Bamital rerouted a search for “Nickelodeon” to a website that distributed malware, including spyware that is designed to track the activities of the computer owner. Meanwhile, in another case, our researchers discovered that an official Norton Internet Security page that appears in a list of search results was redirected to a rogue antivirus site that distributes malware.”

 

Microsoft and Symantec used all the legal channels to counter this problem and the court of law was involved in every action. Microsoft obtained permission from the court to sever all the communication lines between the botnet and the infected computers and upon receiving the court’s permission, Microsoft took the necessary action.

 

The infected computers are now unable to browse through the internet as long as the malware is still present. Microsoft is offering free tools to counter this problem. Once a user of the infected computer tries to browse through the internet they will get a warning message that their computer is infected. They will also get the ways to fix the problem.

 

Microsoft has been fighting cyber crimes since a long time and it has vowed to do so in future as well in order to ensure consumer protection. The data and evidence collected during the entire process will become part of Microsoft’s research aimed at providing total protection to consumers.

 

Photo: Digitaltrends