Given some mathematical acrobatics, I'd suggest examining some
of the (shocking) number sin Microsoft's Security Intelligence
Report (Google it) -- these are reflective:
"Of the 4 million computers cleaned by the company's MSRT
(malicious software removal tool), about 50 percent (2 million)
contained at least one backdoor Trojan. While this is a high
percentage, Microsoft notes that this is a decrease from the
second half of 2005. During that period, the MSRT data showed
that 68 percent of machines cleaned by the tool contained a
backdoor Trojan."
Is there a similar statistic available for Mac OS X ?
Now now.
> "Of the 4 million computers cleaned by the company's MSRT
> (malicious software removal tool), about 50 percent (2 million)
> contained at least one backdoor Trojan. While this is a high
> percentage, Microsoft notes that this is a decrease from the
> second half of 2005. During that period, the MSRT data showed
> that 68 percent of machines cleaned by the tool contained a
> backdoor Trojan."
A lot depends on the definition.
I've removed some malware trying to exploit an old Microsoft JRE bug. This
stuff gets everywhere (well anywhere IE goes).
These get downloaded to some cached program folder for Java, and because the
exploit hasn't worked for years, sit there till some antivirus software comes
along and removes them, doing nowt but consuming disk space.
If you are the Microsoft malicious software removal tool marketing department,
that is a trojan removed. To the average person on the street, it is another
bit of meaningless fluff their PC will lose when they reinstall.
So yes, Microsoft is big enough to have bits who have a vested interest in
making the other bits look bad (if only incidentally). Thus is the way of big
companies.