A pirated version of Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows 7, creates botnet, experts at software security company Damballa have said.

 

The pirated copy of the latest Windows 7 can already be found in several file-sharing sites, online forums and newsgroups.

 

The software giant only released this release candidate to developers.

 

When machines are infected by the malicious software, users may feel they are suffering from a slow computer and it is suggested that they should look for professional computer repair.

Infected machines have been programmed to ask for further updates, which contain botnet.

 

Damballa security researchers said that this pirated copy had already infected as many as 27,000 computers. They added, however, that they had managed to take control of the malware’s command and control system.

“The first thing this does is phone home and get a list of additional malware to install,” said Tripp Cox, vice president of engineering at Damballa. “In this case, we neutralized one release version of the Trojan’s OS. So if users have an older version and install it, we’ve neutralized it from downloading additional malware.”

The malicious software contains a Trojan downloader that is designed to add more malware software to the infected PC asking the users to pay for the updates.