Malware infections tripled in Q4 of 2013: Microsoft report

Microsoft's latest biannual Security Intelligence Report revealed that malware infections in Microsoft Windows reportedly tripled in 2013.

According to PC World, security companies classified the application responsible for the infection as harmless.

Director of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing division Tim Rains said that an average of 5.8 Windows computers out of every 1,000 were infected with malware in Q3, which jumped to 17 computers per 1000 in Q4.

Rains attributed the rise to malware called "Rotbrow." The program masquerades as a browser add-on called "Browser Protector" and is supposedly a security product, the report added.

However, for some time, computer security companies didn't classify Rotbrow as malicious software.

Rains added that he does not think that there would be an uptick in infections given the quick response and the type of vulnerability that is.