Microsoft: Malware Up 38% in United States in 2008

According to the latest Security Intelligence Report from Microsoft, malicious software installations on computers increased 38% in the U.S for 2008.[1] Also, the number of “High Severity” vulnerabilities detected increased by 13% in the second half of 2007, putting the total of “High Severity” vulnerabilities to 48%.

Downloaders and droppers, accounting for 30% of all malicious software, with around 7 millions computers infected in the United States alone.

And of course, no good Microsoft document would be complete by stating that Vista in more awesome than XP, and therefore the report states that if you own Windows XP SP3, you’re likely to be infected 9 times on 1000 infections, while this number drops to 4 times on 1000 infections for Vista.

“For browser-based attacks on Windows XP-based machines, Microsoft vulnerabilities accounted for 42 percent of the total. On Windows Vista-based machines, however, the proportion of vulnerabilities attacked in Microsoft software was much smaller, accounting for just 6 percent of the total[2].”

Taken from the report:

*Country/Region*	*2007*	*2008*	*% Chg.*
Afghanistan	58.8	76.4	29.9
Bahrain	28.2	29.2	3.4
Morocco	31.3	27.8	-11.4
Albania	30.7	25.4	-17.4
Mongolia	29.9	24.7	-17.6
Brazil	13.2	23.9	81.8
Iraq	23.8	23.6	-1.1
Dominican Republic	24.5	23.2	-5.2
Egypt	24.3	22.5	-7.5
Saudi Arabia	22.2	22.3	0.4
Tunisia	15.9	21.9	37.3
Turkey	25.9	21.9	-15.4
Jordan	20.4	21.6	5.5
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	16.3	21.1	29.8
Lebanon	20.6	20.2	-1.8
Yemen	17.7	20.1	13.7
Portugal	14.9	19.6	31.7
Algeria	22.2	19.5	-12.2
Libya	17.3	19.5	13.1
Mexico	14.8	17.3	17
United Arab Emirates	18.2	17.3	-4.8
Monaco	13.7	17.0	23.7
Serbia	11.8	16.6	41.4
Bosnia and Herzegovina	12.8	16.3	27.5
Jamaica	15.0	16.3	8.9
Table 1.0 – Countries with the Highest Infection Rates[3]