PC Viruses Are Mostly Your Fault

By David Goldman
CNN Money Tech
October 12, 2011

If your computer is infected, it's probably because of something you did, according to a Microsoft study released this week.

In its semi-annual Security Intelligence Report, the software giant found that the largest group of malware attacks on its Windows operating systems -- 44.8% -- occurred because of some kind of action taken by the computer's operator. It may have been as simple as clicking a link or downloading an infected file, but a human was the culprit.

But let's not be too hard on ourselves -- we were most likely duped into doing it. According to Microsoft's (MSFT, Fortune 500) report, one of malicious software's primary entry mechanisms is through phishing schemes.

Phishing schemes come in many forms. Often they are spam e-mails sent to thousands and sometimes millions of recipients, typically with the intention of getting the user to click on and open an infected file. They can be very rudimentary or incredibly sophisticated, depending on the skill of the attacker.

They're also hard to escape: Most of the e-mail messages sent over the Internet are unwanted, Microsoft said. It can also be difficult to discern phishing scams from wanted e-mails. Overall, 47.8% of phishing attacks sent in the first half of this year posed as legitimate e-mails from social networks like Facebook, according to the report. Banks and other financial institutions were also popular camouflage for bait e-mails....

Article Source: http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/12/technology/microsoft_security/index.htm