In whitepaper titled Rootkits Part 2: A Technical Primer McAfee Inc. helps explain how malware authors are able to use Microsoft Corp.'s operating system to design rootkits, a term used to describe Trojans, worms, viruses and other malware. McAfee's whitepaper suggests that new ways of hiding files "will continue to challenge the security community, as hackers create stronger and more virulent strains of malware that will prove difficult to detect and delete," reads a McAfee statement. The company says it's getting better at combating the problem though. "The number of rootkits submitted to McAfee Avert Labs in the first quarter of 2007, compared to the first quarter of 2006, has decreased by 15% — demonstrating that we are getting better at capturing existing families and existing techniques," McAfee senior VP Jeff Green added.

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