Who Is To Blame For All The Malware In 2013?

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You know those Trojan horses and other viruses, worms, and malicious software that somehow end up on your computer? It is said over and over again that these objects are planted by people, organizations, and companies that have nothing better to do. However, where does most of the malware originate?

Top Malware-Producing Locations Worldwide
According to some of the latest Infographics produced, China, the United States, South Korea, Russia, and Taiwan are the top five producers and spreaders of malware. Is this a surprise to people? That is a discussion for another time.
Here is a look at some numbers brought to you by the Alien Vault Open Threat Exchange Program (in number of malicious ip addresses):

• China- 95,249
• United States- 60,346
• South Korea- 16,115
• Russia- 13,367
• Taiwan- 12,504

Common Malware Distribution Routes

Malware (a.k.a. Viruses, spyware, Trojan horses, worms) can infect a computer in many different ways. However, it usually follows some common distribution paths.

• Direct infection-This type is becoming too obvious so it is more rare than the other usual ways of dispensing malware onto computers. Still, it is worth mentioning because sometimes malicious operators still feel like they have nothing to hide—including viruses they intentionally decide not to hide in a file. 

• Indirect infection via .exe file-Many people become a victim of a seemingly “innocent” free software download. Usually the infection is not spread until the user attempts to open the file to install and run it. However, sometimes the infection starts even while the software is still downloading. The less-evil forms of this kind of infection are the software packages with free toolbars and gadgets that seem to sneak onto your start menu, desktop, and task bar before you have the chance to say “no.” At the very least, it slows down your computer. At the worst, it infects it with a nasty virus.

• .PDF, .Zip and .RAR files-The infection for these file extensions starts in a similar way as does for the downloading and/or installation of .exe programs. The malware is delivered to the computer either during the download or installation process—or perhaps both. The level of severity ranges from spy and tracking devices all the way up to full-on PC infection.

• HTML or flash content-Right there on any given web page or multimedia video could exist viruses, spyware, worms, and more. It's hard to detect unless you have a program on your computer that alerts you of such. Website owners are highly advised to have their content protected with a scanner. They also should alert visitors to help them feel secure about visiting a particular page or domain.

Other Viral and Malicious Surprises

You may not even realize it, but most of the common viruses and malware are associated with popular operating systems. Harmful content that infects computers are more often than not derived from Windows and Mac OS components.

It should also be noted that that the top five types of malware worldwide include as follows:

• Scanning host-580521
• Malware domain-201177
• Malware ip-71890
• Spamming-61389
• Malicious host-51477

This information is provided by Alien Vault's Open Threat Exchange program. It was derived from records ranging from the dates February 2oth to July 20th, 2012.

Malware is Everywhere

Malware is not just in the five major countries mentioned earlier in this article. It exists everywhere, and you need to do your part to stay safe. Scan your computer as often as possible and be very careful what e-mails you open, what links you click, and what sites you visit.


Guest Author: Erin Walsh is the Director of Public Relations for Boost Software. She is an avid blogger that enjoys sharing her knowledge with the everyday computer user, by helping them with common errors especially error 1722, error 1719, error 0x80070424, and error 0x80004004. She also specializes in helping pc users update drivers, especially the most problematic ones such as toshiba drivers, no sound, motherboard drivers, chipset drivers, lenovo drivers, nvidia drivers and hp drivers.