Malware worldwide grows 15 percent in September
A rise in malware has caused the number of infected PCs worldwide to increase 15 percent just from August to September, says a report released Tuesday from antivirus vendor Panda Security.
Across the globe, the average number of PCs hit by malware now stands around 59 percent, an all-time high for the year. Among 29 countries tracked, the U.S. ranked ninth with slightly more than 58 percent of its PCs infected. Taiwan hit first place with an infection ratio of 69 percent, while Norway came in lowest with only 39 percent of its PCs attacked by malware.
(Credit:
Panda Security)
The study found that in the U.S., Trojans and Adware were the two most pernicious types of malware, followed by worms and viruses.
(Credit:
Panda Security)
"This is a clear sign that hackers are becoming more and more sophisticated," said PandaLabs Technical Director Luis Corrons. "Cybercriminals have found news ways to spread their creations, frequently exploiting the latest news stories to launch attacks through social networks, videos, and e-mail. The huge amount of Trojans in circulation is due to the spectacular increase in the number of banker Trojans aimed at stealing user data."
The company based its results on data taken from users who scanned their PCs with the free Panda ActiveScan online tool. The results for September were gathered from August 28 to September 28 and compared with the results from July 28 to August 27.
Lance Whitney wears a few different technology hats--journalist, Web developer, and software trainer. He's a contributing editor for Microsoft TechNet Magazine and writes for other computer publications and Web sites. You can follow Lance on Twitter at @lancewhit. Lance is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and he is not an employee of CNET. 





- by SergeM256 September 30, 2009 2:29 PM PDT
- I think numbers are made up. Rate around 50-60% seems a way too much. I wonder how do they collect data? How do they know my computer is not infected and how do they know it even exists? Do they send their own spyware to collect data? Than 60% rate would make sense and title of this article should read "60% of computers infected by our spyware also have other malware". Do they count users that click on a banner "Free PC scan"? In this case 60% rate would make sense and title should read "60% users that click on every banner/pop-up have their computers infected".
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