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Security expert warns of fake Windows 7 programme

The speed with which cyber crooks move in order to exploit vulnerable end users to online threats has been highlighted by news that a fake version of the Windows 7 programme is out in the market.

According to online security firm Damballa, the malicious programmes of the release candidates are kitted with "hard-to-detect trojans intended for cybercrime purposes".

What's more, the pirated version, which people may have downloaded if they used BitTorrent rather than Microsoft's official site, is also reported to be creating a botnet made of thousands of computers.

According to the security company, the rogue programme first appeared in late April and by the time its command and control server was closed down in early May thousands of zombie computers had been infected.

The news comes amid Microsoft's exercise to test out the release candidate with fake security software to see how it would perform in a real life situation.

No new features or fixes will be delivered by the patches.

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