[ISN] Nations with low malware rates have better ISPs, Microsoft research finds

http://news.techworld.com/security/3299592/nations-with-low-malware-rates-have-better-isps-microsoft-research-finds/

By John E Dunn
Techworld
26 August 11

Countries with good national security teams (CERTs) and diligent ISPs 
show consistently lower rates of malware infection than those states 
that adopt a less paternalistic approach to security, a new analysis by 
Microsoft researchers has suggested.

According to statistics drawn from the company’s widely-used Malicious 
Software Removal Tool (MSRT), the countries which have shown notably 
lower infection rates of malware are Austria, Finland, Germany and 
Japan.

Using the yardstick of computers cleaned per mile (CCM)*, Austria 
recorded a normalised rate of 3.3 CCM in Q4 2010, Finland 2.3, Germany 
5.3, and Japan 2.3, all significantly below the global average taken 
from 116 countries of 8.3. These low rates have remained consistent 
since the first measurements taken in 2007.

Paradoxically, one possible explanation was not the number of malware 
download sites hosted in each country, which in several of them was 
somewhat higher for some classes of malware than the levels seen in the 
US, a country with raised levels of infection at PC level.

[...]

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