Attackers push pirated Windows 7 RC to build botnet

Attackers have been pushing pirated copies of Windows 7 RC that contain malware to help build a botnet. According to Eweek, researches at Damballa discovered a trojan hidden inside pirated copies of Windows 7 RC and distributed them to P2P sites. Damballa was able to shut down the botnet’s command and control server on May 10, but by that time infection rates had risen as high as 552 computers per hour.

The trojan did its work by attempting to install a bundle of malware on the infected machine. Intercepting the trojan would be difficult since it would begin its work before you even got an opportunity to install any anti-virus, according to Damballa.

We continue to see new installs happening at a rate of about 1,600 per day with broad geographic distribution. Since our takedown, any new installs of this pirated distribution of Windows 7 RC are inaccessible by the botmaster. The old installs are accessible. The countries with the largest percentage of installs are the U.S. (10 percent), Netherlands (7 percent) and Italy (7 percent).

Microsoft is currently offering the Windows 7 RC as a free download on their servers. If you obtained your copy of Windows 7 RC from a P2P source, you may want to reconsider a more reliable source instead. Click here to download Windows 7 RC from Microsoft’s servers.

You may also want to check out our article on 12 things you need to know before installing Windows 7 RC. As always, please understand the risks of installing a leaked Windows 7 build.

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