US ranked worst for cyber attacks

Security company SecureWorks has released a world ranking for countries based on the level of attacks logged on its clients.

Based on 16 countries that the company is active within, India topped the list as the safest country, with 52 logged attacks per 1,000 PCs.

At the other end of the scale the US came a distant last with an astonishing 1,660 attacks per thousand PCs. The UK logged just 107 in comparison. The results appear to show that the US is the world haven for compromised computer systems.

The SecureWorks study analysed the locations of attempted cyber attacks on its global client base between January 2010 and June 2010 and compared this with the total number of active PCs in that country.

"The reasons for the difference in number of attempted attacks per country could comprise many things – this ranges from the overall Internet speeds in a country and how proactive the ISPs are in protecting their clients to general user education on security. The ratio of Windows, Mac and Linux users in a country will also make a big difference," said Jon Ramsey, CTO for SecureWorks.