Over half of UK companies infected by malware

Security firm Kaspersky Lab has revealed that over half (62 per cent) of companies it surveyed had experienced malware attacks last year.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it encourages businesses to seek out better protection, or face losing data and/or having security breached. First steps might mean installing basic protection on all machines. Secondly, firms might benefit from developing security policies specifically tailored to their business.

“If you have never been infected by malware, it is easy to tell yourself that ‘It won’t happen to me’, or at least to imagine that most of what we hear about malware is just hype,” said David Emm, senior security researcher at Kapersky Lab. “It would be naïve to suggest that there is no hype – there have always been those who have exaggerated the risks or over-inflated the potential cost of an attack. But for all this, the threat from malware is real and it can have a serious impact on business.”

He pointed out that targeted attacks are becoming more frequent, and tend to have greater risks to a company’s reputation and data.