Microsoft declares a victory against autorun malware

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<h3>Microsoft declares a victory against autorun malware

Microsoft appears to be winning a major battle against autorun malware.

A blog post this week by Microsoft's Malware Protection Center said the company discovered 1.3 million fewer infections on Windows Vista and XP caused by autorun malware from mid-February to mid-May, compared with the three months prior.

A persistent security threat for the past several years, autorun malware typically spreads through flash drives, memory cards, and other external devices courtesy of Microsoft's autorun feature, which automatically executes a command when the device is plugged in.

Autorun has been a trigger for some of the "top families" of malware, including Conficker, Rimecud, and Taterf, according to Microsoft.

In February, Microsoft started pushing out updates for Windows XP and Vista to lock down the autorun feature. The company had already rolled out a similar update for the release candidate of Windows 7 early in 2009.

Following the updates ... Read full post & comments - http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-20071962-83/microsoft-declares-a-victory-against-autorun-malware/

http://news.cnet.com/security/