January Malware Update: PandaLabs Found 43 Percent of US PCs Were Infected, Ranking Tenth Worldwide

ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- PandaLabs, Panda Security's anti-malware laboratory, announced findings today based on data from scans completed by Panda ActiveScan, the free online scanner offered by Panda Security, The Cloud Security Company. In the month of January, PandaLabs found 43 percent of US computers scanned were infected with malware, compared to 50 percent of total global users scanned. Trojans were found to be the most prolific malware threat, responsible for 58 percent of all US cases, and 59 percent globally. The next most common culprits were traditional viruses and worms which caused 12 percent and 9 percent of cases worldwide, respectively.

A graph depicting global results is available here: http://prensa.pandasecurity.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Graph1.jpg

Although the United States made the top ten, Thailand, China, Taiwan, Russia and Turkey held the top five highest rates of infection, ranging from 60 to 67 percent of cases. And with a 43 percent infection rate, the U.S. ranked tenth, only a few percentage points below historical 'malware havens,' such as Brazil and Poland.

A chart depicting global ranks can be found here: http://prensa.pandasecurity.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Graph3.jpg

Of the most prevalent malware threats detected this January, generic Trojans topped the list, followed by downloaders, exploits and adware. Interesting to note is the persistence of 'Lineage,' a Trojan that continues to spread and infect systems, indicating a lack of basic antivirus protection for even the most longstanding threats.

"We don't see many significant changes regarding the number of worldwide infections from month to month. This just reflects the reality of the current situation," said Luis Corrons, technical director of PandaLabs. "Every day we receive some 61,000 new malware samples at our laboratory, and unless you have a solution like Panda Cloud Antivirus whose latest protection technologies provide near real-time protection, it takes too long for traditional solutions to incorporate new malware signatures: a time during which users are left unprotected against new threats."

For more information on the latest security threats please visit the PandaLabs Blog.

About PandaLabs

Since 1990, PandaLabs, the malware research division of Panda Security, has led the industry in detecting, classifying and protecting consumers and businesses against new cyber threats. At the core of the operation is Collective Intelligence, a proprietary system that provides real-time protection by harnessing Panda's community of users to automatically detect, analyze, classify and disinfect more than 63,000 new malware samples daily. The automated classification is complemented by a highly specialized global team of threat analysts, each focused on a specific type of malware, such as viruses, Trojans, worms, spyware and other exploits, to ensure around-the-clock protection. Learn more about PandaLabs and subscribe to the PandaLabs blog at http://www.pandalabs.com. Follow Panda on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Panda_Security and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PandaUSA. 

SOURCE Panda Security