Microsoft has expanded its malware research operations in Munich, Germany, to analyze and detect ongoing cyber-threats.
The latest member of the
Microsoft Malware Protection Center family is open and fully operational in
Germany, according to Microsoft.
The new malware research
facility is in Munich and will monitor threats in the region,
Microsoft said July 26. The facility will be looking at both active threats as
well as proactively looking for malware that may affect Windows users in the
future.
Microsoft selected Munich
for its central location in Europe and for its proximity to various Microsoft
development organizations and support centers, Tim Rains, director of product
management with the Trustworthy Computing group at Microsoft, told
eWEEK. The facility will also be near
several of Microsoft's "talented researchers" located in Central
Europe, Rains said.
The Munich laboratory will
be "able to keep a pulse on the European territory," Rains said.
MMPC laboratories
collaborate and share research with each other and act as first responders when
malware issues arise in their specific region, according to Rains. Along with
core malware research and responding to new threats, MMPC also collaborates
with law enforcement organizations, Rains said.
Europe is a large market for
Microsoft and the new research center would allow the company to "be more
agile" in responding to local threats across Europe, the Middle East and
Africa,
Vinny
Gullotto, MMPC general manager, wrote on the
Threat Research & Response blog.
There are other MMPC research
facilities in Redmond, Wash.; Dublin, Ireland; Melbourne, Australia; and
Vancouver, Canada, as well as researchers based in New York, Los Angeles and
Beijing. The Beijing researchers and the Melbourne laboratory cover the Asia
region, Rains said.
"The MMPC's global
presence lets us respond quickly and effectively to the changing threat
landscape," Gullotto said.
The new German facility is
also intended to complement the existing anti-malware research laboratory in
Dublin, according to Gullotto.
The most common category of
threats found in Germany during the fourth quarter of 2010 was
"potentially unwanted software," which affected 31.2 percent of all infected
machines, Microsoft found in its latest
Security Intelligence Report. Malware was detected on 5.3 out of every
1,000 computers scanned in Germany in the fourth quarter of 2010, the report
found.
The MMPC network monitors
over 600 million Windows computers worldwide for malware threats, according to
Microsoft. The research is used in various Microsoft products such as the
Microsoft Forefront suite of products and the freely available security tools
Microsoft Security Essentials, Malicious Software Removal Tool and Windows Defender.
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