Antivirus Software Reviews Flag Trends

The numerous antivirus software reviews published by the computer security companies are great for picking up trends that are being played out across the globe.

And the monthly report from computer security giant Symantec is no exception. This is a comprehensive antivirus software review which looks at, amongst other things, geographical trends and vertical trends.

In terms of geographic trends, the global situation as regards spam, email borne viruses and malicious content are examined.

Notably, the country of Oman has the dubious distinction of being the most spammed in March, with a rate of 87.9%. In the US, the figure was 79.6% and 79.4% in Canada, with the UK not far behind at 79.1%. As regards the country which is the most targeted by email borne malware, this was Luxembourg. Here is was discovered that one on 26.2 emails blocked were deemed to have malicious content attached. In the UK, this figure dropped to one in 98.8 emails and in the US, one in 507.9.

When you look at the vertical trends (and particularly at the sector which are being attacked), further themes become obvious. Currently, the most spammed industry is automotive with a spam rate of 82.3%. In the education sector it was 81%; IT was 79.8%; chemical and pharmaceutical 79.6%; retail 78.8% and 78% for finance.

One might expect a slightly higher figure for finance, given the amount of attacks it receives, but the differences between each sector is minor, confirming that attacks are across the board, and not always aimed at one particular sector.

Guest Article by Neil Camp