Windows Vista is wide open to nearly 40 percent of the malware currently circulating, Microsoft has admitted, following a report by Sophos.Remarkably, with the new operating system just released to business, the software giant said in effect that there is nothing it can do about the threats in question—Stratio-Zip, Netsky-D and MyDoom-O—because they rely on social engineering to invade systems. The three threats together account for 39.7 percent of circulating malware, according to Sophos.“Based on our initial investigation, Microsoft can confirm that these variants do not take advantage of a security vulnerability; rather, they rely on social engineering to infect a user’s system,” Microsoft said in a statement.While the e-mail system built into Vista, Windows Mail Client, stops all of the top 10 viruses identified by Sophos for November, the three threats outlined can infect systems when a third-party e-mail client is used, Sophos said last week. Stratio-Zip was November’s top malware, accounting for one-third of virus traffic, Sophos said. Sophos said that while no Vista-specific viruses have yet been detected, they are likely to appear soon. “It won’t be long before cybercriminals develop Vista-specific malware or modify current threats to fit the bill,” said Ron O’Brien, Sophos senior security analyst, in a statement. “The Stratio-Zip worm, for example, remains on the top ten list due to constant, minor alterations to its code that force security systems to re-identify the malware.”Few actual installations of Vista currently exist, since the OS was launched this past Thursday. Sophos and McAfee have antivirus products ready for Vista, but Symantec, Trend Micro and CA are still working on theirs. Microsoft congratulated itself on the “aggressive security design decisions” it took with Windows Mail Client, but said if users choose to use other, more vulnerable e-mail programs, they can configure User Account Control to help limit the damage users can cause if they’re infected.-Matthew Broersma, Techworld.com (London) Microsoft Windows Vista: The OS Has Landed Sophos: Windows Vista Users May Be Affected by Existing MalwareCheck out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content opinion Website spoofing: risks, threats, and mitigation strategies for CIOs In this article, we take a look at how CIOs can tackle website spoofing attacks and the best ways to prevent them. By Yash Mehta Dec 01, 2023 5 mins CIO Cyberattacks Security brandpost Sponsored by Catchpoint Systems Inc. Gain full visibility across the Internet Stack with IPM (Internet Performance Monitoring) Today’s IT systems have more points of failure than ever before. Internet Performance Monitoring provides visibility over external networks and services to mitigate outages. By Neal Weinberg Dec 01, 2023 3 mins IT Operations brandpost Sponsored by Zscaler How customers can save money during periods of economic uncertainty Now is the time to overcome the challenges of perimeter-based architectures and reduce costs with zero trust. By Zscaler Dec 01, 2023 4 mins Security feature LexisNexis rises to the generative AI challenge With generative AI, the legal information services giant faces its most formidable disruptor yet. That’s why CTO Jeff Reihl is embracing and enhancing the technology swiftly to keep in front of the competition. By Paula Rooney Dec 01, 2023 6 mins Generative AI Digital Transformation Cloud Computing Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe