Baidu Antivirus Detects and Resolves Dangerous New WinRAR Vulnerability

SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwired - Apr 23, 2014) - Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU), the world's leading Chinese search engine and developer of award-winning PC, Web and mobile products, today announced that its PC product Baidu Antivirus offers unique protection from a dangerous new vulnerability that affects millions of WinRAR 4.X users worldwide. The vulnerability allows executable viruses to masquerade as harmless images or other files inside WinRAR archives, thus delivering virus payloads as soon as users attempt to unpack the file. Baidu Antivirus's new protection method automatically detects and quarantines these hidden threats, ensuring that its users stay safe from malicious viruses, Trojans and more.

According to Sam Dong, team leader of Baidu Antivirus, hackers can use the exploit to mask viruses behind many different types of fake filename extensions. "This is a really dangerous vulnerability, because hackers can make executable viruses and Trojans appear to be images, documents, movies and other things that people normally assume are safe," said Dong. "Even tech-savvy people can be easily fooled by this exploit. So the Baidu Antivirus team acted fast to make sure that its users are totally protected from this tricky attack."

Millions of individual PC users and companies still use compromised versions of WinRAR, according to recent statistics collected by the Baidu Antivirus Security Center. In addition, the vulnerability affects multiple operating systems including Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows XP. Given the widespread and manipulative nature of the threat, Baidu Antivirus's security experts recommend that WinRAR 4.X users immediately upgrade to WinRAR version 5.0 or higher, and scan their systems with Baidu Antivirus or another security program that offers similar protection.

Baidu Antivirus has received many accolades on the strength of its security. In December 2013, Softonic.com selected Baidu Antivirus as its "most promising antivirus" product of the year. Before that, Baidu Antivirus also received the prestigious VB100 award from Virus Bulletin, Checkmark Certification from West Coast Labs, and OPSWAT Certification.

Baidu Antivirus can be downloaded for free for Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8 on its official website at: http://antivirus.baidu.com

Baidu Antivirus's official Facebook page can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/BaiduAntivirusEN

About Baidu
Baidu, Inc. is the leading Chinese language Internet search provider and developer of award-winning PC, Web and mobile products. 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.