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Webroot: 40 percent of companies report disruptions due to malware

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More than 40 percent of companies worldwide reported malware-related business disruptions, Webroot Software researchers reported this week.

Webroot announced the findings of the survey in its State of the Internet Security report. It found that along with business disruptions, many businesses are spending more on help desk functions as a result of malware infections.

In one case study, Webroot found that a company with 14,000 workstations lost $108,000 due to malware infections.

According to the Webroot study, 39 percent of companies reported trojan attacks, 24 percent reported system monitor attacks and 20 percent reported pharming and keylogger attacks.

In addition, 26 percent of businesses reported that confidential information was compromised as a result of spyware.

In spite of this, Webroot executives said that businesses still aren’t treating the threats seriously enough.

"Despite the growth and severity of malware, over 60 percent of businesses don't have a security plan. Businesses need to control this threat by adequately protecting themselves and their customers," said Peter Watkins, CEO of Webroot.

As businesses have failed to advance their security strategies, hackers are moving forward with their attacks. Watkins said that the state-of-the-art methods of infection of 2006 are now par for the course.

Increasingly, many of these methods use the web as an attack vector, Webroot reported. Company researchers found that 1.7 percent of 250 million URLs worldwide  - or 4.2 million websites - contain malware. And Webroot reported that it found three million of those in 2006 alone.

Click here to email West Coast Bureau Chief Ericka Chickowski.

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