S'pore a hotbed for computer viruses and malware
PUBLISHED ONAugust 03, 2015 7:38 AM
SINGAPORE - According to a recent study, Singapore is the number one Asian country when it comes to anti-virus notifications - the number of Internet users worldwide who encounter malicious websites hosted in a country.
Kaspersky Lab said in a statement last week that it discovered 2,865,351 anti-virus notifications located in Singapore in May, a 13 per cent jump compared to the 2,538,630 discovered in April. This puts Singapore in 7th position in the global ranking.
The top country in the ranking is the United States, with over 10 million notifications. The US is followed by the Netherlands, France and Germany. China and Hong Kong occupy the 10th and 14th slot respectively.
The "good" thing about Singapore's No. 1 status in this case is that it showcases Singapore's achievements towards a "smart" nation and the quality of our infrastructure. "These are the very same factors that make Singapore a very attractive proposition for cybercriminals looking to base their insidious websites, with the ultimate aim of exploiting individuals and organisations for malicious gains and activities," Kaspersky said in its statement.
Poland, Denmark, Sweden and Vietnam ranked at the bottom of the list of the top 20 countries, it said.
sinsh@sph.com.sg