Network Security News

Report shows most PCs vulnerable for attack

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Despite warnings from Microsoft and pop-up messages about newer versions of software, less than two percent of Windows machines are fully patched, according to a new study.

The report comes from a customer survey by Secunia, a personal software inspector taken by approximately 20,000 users. The data shows 98 percent of installed applications on the users' PCs were vulnerable to a known security flaw.

This follows news of multiple warnings from Microsoft about a patch that was released in October to fix a known vulnerability. However, because Microsoft didn't react to it on day zero, worms and viruses ran rampant toward the unprotected machines.

Some bloggers have pointed out this shows why PCs may be part of the reason for a malware epidemic.

According to a 2004 article from PC World, the average unpatched Windows PC lasts less than 20 minutes on the internet before it's infected.

Recently, there have been numerous reports of an increase in phishing attacks and spam emails. Some of the cyber criminals are even branching past the typical targets of small businesses and credit unions, which have historically employed low levels of IT security.