4 out of 5 attacks using malware causes … – CHIP

Malware was most frequently detected on computers running Windows – 83% of users of the system admitted that the problem affected them in the past 12 months. However, users of Android and Mac OS X also were not immune to this threat – an infection of your machine indicated 13% and 6% of users.

12% of users believe that their machine has been infected after visiting suspicious of the page website. On the other hand, 8% of respondents indicated as the source of infection of your USB storage device to another person, other infected device and install the malicious application pretending to be a legitimate program. While a further 7% of respondents admitted that their machine has been infected when you open the attachment to e-mail. Most of the respondents, 13% could not explain how malware found on the device.

It is noteworthy that four out of five infections caused problems owners infected devices. The most common (35% of cases) users recorded slowing computer performance, 30% of respondents became the target of brazen advertising (eg. Browser redirect them to unwanted side), while 20% of respondents were on their devices unwanted programs. For the most serious effects of infection were to change in your browser settings or operating system without the user’s knowledge (17%), loss (10%) or theft (8%) of personal data, unauthorized publications or “liking of” on social networking sites (9%) and burglary of webcams (6%).

In addition, respondents mentioned the need to pay for cybercriminals to unlock the device (11% of cases) or decrypt your private files (6%) as a result of software ransomware infections. In general, every third user (33%) had suffered financial loss as a result of malware infection. In addition to the payment of ransom to criminals victims have to spend money to restore data or equipment to work on software that allows the elimination of any infection, and some were even forced to buy a new computer. Where are incurred financial losses, the average cost of attacks was $ 160.

“ Cost and unpleasant effects of malware infections can be avoided if you just show a little consideration. It should, for example, avoid connecting USB media to unverified computer, use only the official app stores, to ensure that the operating system and applications have been updated, and scan files before opening them using security solutions. The ability to predict potential problems and take appropriate corrective action is the key to this, to stay safe “- explains Elena Karczenko, head of the department responsible for managing consumer products, Kaspersky Lab.