Report: Malware infections down but threat remains

Malware infections in the United States dropped 47 percent in the first six months of 2016, according to a report from the Enigma Software Group research team, but they remain a threat.
Malware infections in the United States dropped 47 percent in the first six months of 2016, according to a report from the Enigma Software Group research team, but they remain a threat.

Malware infections in the United States dropped 47 percent in the first six months of 2016, according to a

report
from the Enigma Software Group research team, but they remain a threat.
Tampa, Fla., St. Louis and Orlando, Fla., topped the list as the nation’s “most malware-infected cities” with respective rates of 916 percent, 816 percent and 799 percent higher than the national average, while Providence’s rate was 83 percent higher than the national average, placing it 36th on a ranking of the 150 largest U.S. cities.
Boston was 26th on the list for a rate 134 percent higher than the national average.
Enigma analyzed infection reports generated by all of the computers in the U.S. that have Enigma’s SpyHunter installed and running on them to come up with the data. Despite the drop in malware infections, Enigma said companies still need to be vigilant, as ransomware in particular is still prevalent.
The 47 percent drop was lower than the average number of monthly infections from all of 2015, Engima said, adding June had the lowest number of overall infections of any month dating back to April 2013.

Enigma spokesperson Ryan Gerding said the research team believes several factors are causing a drop in overall infections detected by SpyHunter.

“First, people are relying more than ever on their mobile devices to do a growing number of internet tasks. PCs are still incredibly important, but as more work is done on mobile devices, that reduces time spent on PCs, which reduces infections. Second, we believe consumers have become more aware of some of the common mistakes that lead to the more common infections: adware, potentially unwanted programs and toolbars. Each of these types of infections are commonly bundled into other software when computer users download programs online. We think a growing number of people have become more aware of this practice and are more wary of accidentally installing the unwanted software. Third, we believe current web browsers and anti-malware software have become much more effective at blocking potential malware before it even gets onto computers,” Gerding said in a statement.

Ransomware is malicious software that encrypts and locks up valuable files on a computer – items such as photos, videos and Word documents, and holds them hostage until a ransom is paid.

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The report found that monthly ransomware infections jumped 7.92 percent over 2015, a “disturbing” trend in light of the overall 47 percent drop in malware infections.

“Ransomware infections make up a tiny fraction of all infections,” Gerding said. “Our concern is that, while small, their overall share of the infection pie is growing. In fact, if you looked at the percentage of infections made up by ransomware in 2016, you would see a 119 percent spike from 2015. To us, this means malware makers may be shifting their attention to less common but much more costly infections like ransomware.”
Enigma suggested the following tips to avoid malware and ransomware infections:

  • Regularly back up data to an external device, the cloud, or both.
  • Update all software and operating systems; make sure the operating system and anti-virus/anti-malware programs are set to update automatically.
  • Do not click on unknown links.
  • Enable spam email detection.

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