Norton Symantec Blog

A recent report, commissioned to explore the safety of the Internet has revealed some disturbing facts. The survey was completed in Spain and showed that of the 1.5 million consumer PCs studied, only 37% had fully updated security protection. Of this low proportion, a quarter were still infected.

This had obvious consequences for online security and demonstrates that even a decade after the internet boom began, people are still not taking the threats seriously enough. So many powerful viruses are present nowadays , that an unprotected PC could be damaged or even destroyed within days of first being connected. A further worry was revealed, as results showed that of the unprotected computers – 80% had traces of viruses within them.

Rather than email, the fastest-growing threat is the so called drive-by attacks. This happens when people visit a website that is infected, and malware is installed without your knowledge. It is not just small businesses and independent webpages that are susceptible to having this type of malware present on their pages – other multination companies have been caught out by the hackers too: the Miami Dolphins and the Bank of India between them.

Advice from technicians working for Symantec, was for Internet users to ensure that their computer is fully and adequately protected.