Baidu Antivirus Develops New, More Effective Solution to Widespread Cybercrime Malware Botnet, Virut

CUPERTINO, CA--(Marketwired - Oct 22, 2013) -  Baidu Antivirus (NASDAQ: BIDU) today announced that it developed a new method to detect and eliminate all variants of the malicious "Virut" botnet, making it the first known antivirus program with complete built-in protection from the threat.

The Virut botnet spreads through executable file infection (via infected USB sticks and other media), and through websites that use compromised HTML to infect vulnerable browsers. Infected computers can become hosts for DDoS attacks, spam, fraud, data theft, and illicit pay-per-install activities.

Despite aggressive action in January 2013 by Polish research and development organization Naukowa i Akademicka Sieć Komputerowa (NASK), the Virut malware remains an ongoing threat. Currently, most commercially available antivirus programs do not offer complete protection from it.

"Our new solution to Virut works so well because it takes an active approach rather than a passive approach," said Baidu Antivirus team leader Zhiqiang Dong. "We find infected files in memory, unhook APIs and clear out any malicious code that's been injected. Because of our proactive approach, all 23 million Baidu Antivirus cloud engine users are completely protected from Virut," he said.

Virut has been in existence since 2006, with new variants appearing on a near-weekly basis. eWeek reported in January 2013 that Virut controlled roughly 300,000 computers. The botnet's extremely fast mutation rate and its ability to look up alternate backup hosts makes it difficult to reliably detect, and even more difficult to remove.

Baidu Antivirus is a permanently free antivirus and cloud security application that has recently been awarded VB100 certification from Virus Bulletin, and Checkmark Certification from West Coast Labs. It can be downloaded for free at: http://antivirus.baidu.com.

Quick Tips to Keep Your PC Safe:

• Only install web browser plugins from trusted sources;
• Don't open emails from people or companies that you're not familiar with;
• When providing personal information online, look for "HTTPS" in the URL to make sure your connection is secure;
• Avoid using public computers to check your bank account, email, and other accounts that contain personal information;
• Make sure you've installed a trusted antivirus program that can guard against a wide variety of threats.

About Baidu
Baidu, Inc. is the leading Chinese language Internet search provider. As a technology-based media company, Baidu aims to provide the best and most equitable way for people to find what they are looking for. In addition to serving individual Internet search users, Baidu provides an effective platform for businesses to reach potential customers. Baidu's ADSs trade on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "BIDU." Currently, ten ADSs represent one Class A ordinary share.