The research laboratory of AVG Technologies identified a botnet composed of more than 1.2 million computers. Controlled by criminals, the machines were infected in an attack of Eleonore Explore Toolkit – software that enables contamination control and desktops and notebooks.

During the past two months, the team’s Virus Lab AVG observed an increase in the use of this set of specific tools, known as Eleonore Explore Toolkit. The laboratory monitored 165 sites known to have been overrun by criminals. When visiting one of these pages, the user was redirected to an address contaminated, infecting the machine.

The team at AVG found vulnerabilities in malicious code being able to collect statistical data that led to a better understanding of the magnitude of the attacks and the average success rate of infection.

According to the company, the first step to silent infection involves exploiting a vulnerability in Internet Explorer 6, 7, Safari and Firefox, and Adobe Acrobat Reader. By invading your computer, you can steal data or even turn it into a machine to send spam.

AVG estimates that more than 12 million users accessed the infected pages, while 10% have been infected – but that rate depends on the browser that was attacked.

Via: Forbes.