Compromised Computers Expect to Increase in the ME Region

Trend Micro, an online security firm, said that it removed some kind of virus or malware from over 300,000 computers in the Middles East during February 2009 out of which 71,408 computers were from the UAE alone. The security firm also disclosed that the number of infected computers in the region would increase.

Trend Micro also stated that 56.90% of computer related threats made their way through Internet, 51.72% silently downloaded by malware, while staggering 22.41% of systems were infected by removable physical drives in the EMEA region. Similar statistics are being observed in the Middle East region.

With exponential rise of 212% in the usage of Internet in the UAE since 2000, security experts at Trend Micro said that nearly 49.8% of computer users in the country have high chances of falling victim to cyber crime. They further said that cyber criminals would utilize the increasing penetration of Internet to target more victims.

Chris Moore, Regional Managing Director, Trend Micro North Africa and Middle East, said that computer users as well as businesses in the UAE susceptible to web attacks that could lead to heavy financial losses, as reported by TradeArabia on March 02, 2009.

Moreover, security experts at Trend Micro claimed that the cyber threat landscape had undergone tremendous transformation since 2001 when mass notoriety worms' outbreak were very common to covert dangers of 2008. In fact, the trend still continues with significant number of computer users fail to recognize that malware corrupted their systems.

Pointing to rising incidents of cyber threats, Moore said that the region saw some high profile security violation with escalating frequency of data stealing malware that broke into heavily secured enterprises. Trend Micro is committed to spread awareness about cyber crime among individuals and regional organizations.

UAE is not the only country facing cyber threats, but the whole world under intense attacks by criminals, said security experts. As per the Trend Micro's observation, spam reached its peak level at 200 Billion per day globally.

Moore finally claimed that no website is immune to cyber threats and those which are most targeted hosted on compromised computers. It becomes mandatory to protect the sites from attacks as businesses can't afford to loss data and productivity.

Related article: Compromise of Personal Information of UI Employees

» SPAMfighter News - 3/6/2009