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US hangs on top as leading virus producer

New data has revealed that the US maintained its position as the single biggest distributor of online threats in the first month of 2009.

According to figures from managed security firm, Network Box, some 14.8 per cent of viruses were distributed from the US in January, followed by South Korea, which sent out 8.9 per cent.

In a significant shift, China dropped down to the sixth position with only four per cent of the market share, down from the leading figure of 11.8 per cent last year.

The US also dominated the spam landscape, sending out some 9.3 per cent of the total, in spite of last year's closure of the McColo spambot network.

Commenting on the figures, Simon Heron, internet security analyst for Network Box, said: "Korea and Brazil are clearly the ones to watch in 2009. The gap between the top countries producing viruses and spam is closing significantly."

A recent Google Enterprise Blog post by Amanda Kleha, of the Google Message Security Team, predicted that spam and malware were going to register in increase in 2009.

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