Windows 7: Malware: It's not just for illicit websites anymore

Many computer users are comforted by the belief that as long as they stay away from "bad Internet neighborhoods" - websites that host adult content or illegal software and music downloads or that cater to hackers - they're pretty safe from the threat of malware. But a recent study showed that may no longer be true - it found 99 infected legit domains for every infected "adult" web site. Just goes to show that no matter how nice your neighborhood, you still need to take measures for protecting yourself.

Doesn't surprise me in the least. All these peckerheads trying to screw up machines. And for what? Just for laughs?

According to its current "MessageLabs Intelligence Report" Symantec has come to a similar conclusion. The report shows the share of legitimate web sites among manipulated web sites rose from 80% in 2009 to 90% this year. Recently, for example, Chinese attackers managed to manipulate tens of thousands of Web servers via SQL injection vulnerabilities.

Doesn't surprise me in the least. All these peckerheads trying to screw up machines. And for what? Just for laughs?

You're not kidding Thorsen....there are some sites where you can actually RENT malware kits, the owner gets a cut & they come with full tech support if you have problems setting them up

Rent-A-Bot services: Who needs to buy a botnet when you can lease a perfectly good one by the hour at a fraction of the price? Available in abundance this season, such botnet services are designed to let average spammers deliver a gazillion copies of their malware without them having to invest in the infrastructure needed to do so, Schipka said. For as little as $100 to $200 per hour, spammers can get access to a fully functional botnet capable of delivering the finest image spam and body part enhancement ads to millions at the click of a button, he said.

Ye Olde Malware tools. Do-it-yourself enthusiasts have a wider range than ever before of malware tools, including Trojans, zero-day exploits, rootkits, spyware programs and keyloggers, according to Jackson and Schipka. For around $3,000 to $3,500, serious shoppers can find sophisticated polymorphic malware capable of delivering all sorts of nasty code on vulnerable computers while constantly morphing to evade detection. Variants can be purchased separately for less than $10 on average to about $20 a piece. In some cases, variants can be delivered at the rate of one new variant every 59 minutes, or precisely one minute less than the hourly cycles many anti-virus vendors use to push out new virus signatures, said Schipka.