According to new stats from Symantec, British computers are the most hacked in the world. Computer Business Review takes up the story:
Research out this week from Symantec places the UK at the top of the league table of countries that have lots of PCs participating in networks of "bots" -- compromised computers that malicious hackers can control to send spam or attack others.
Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report for the second half of 2004 said that 25.2% are located in the UK. That now puts the country ahead of the US (24.6%), China (7.8%), Canada (4.9%) and Spain (3.8%), Symantec said.
And why? The firm speculates that it is because of the sharp uptake of broadband services... and it's certainly true that one of the dangers of high-speed, always-on internet is that it leaves you open to more attacks (as John Naughton noted in the Observer recently).
So - what do you do to protect yourself? We've got some rudimentary tips on our How To pages, but essentially it comes down to this: don't leave yourself without a firewall and keep an eye on your system.
High speed, low education is a recipe for disaster.
