Cyber crime is a menace. Underlining the need to prevent all forms of criminal activities on the world wide web in its own interests, Microsoft recently rolled up its sleeves and announced MARS (Microsoft Active Response for Security).
This consolidated unit, based in Redmond – Washington, will see Microsoft combine its digital crimes and software piracy teams into one in order to fight cyber crime effectively. The primary aim of MARS initiative is to locate and fight malware and hacker threats all over the world, supported by 30 staff members in the headquarters and a support staff of 70 personnel globally.
“The Microsoft Active Response for Security (MARS) initiative is focused on combining legal and technical acumen to proactively disrupt criminal infrastructure. This includes taking down botnets (armies of malware-infected PCs operating secretly under the remote control of a criminal), seizing the infrastructure and domains criminals use to control them and taking the information we gain in those efforts to help better protect the Internet community and our customers.”
Microsoft has estimated that almost 25% of the ad clicks are fake. These are being done by botnets or other illegitimate means. Moreover, ad networks are being increasingly misused to infect users computers with malware and malicious software. Keeping this in minds, researchers at MARS are working on new ways to detect and prevent fraud and malvertising in Microsoft’s ad platform.
This unit will also deal with tackling the sale and purchase of counterfeit Microsoft software products and illegal downloads. Being the manufacturer of the most popular desktop operating system in the world – Windows, it’s understood why a majority of the targeted hacker attacks, illegal intrusions, malware etc. are focused at Microsoft.
Hope MARS tastes success through an effective plan to counter cyber crime activities.
