Pakistan has been ranked as top country — after Bangladesh — where personal computers are attacked the most by malware and other cyber threats, said a report published by Microsoft.
According to Microsoft’s latest Global Security Intelligence Report, one in four computers in Pakistan were attacked by malware during Q1 of 2017.
This is most highest average in the world, except Bangladesh.
According to report, threats that were unusually common in Pakistan included Win32/Nuqel, Ippedo and Win32/Tupym, all of which are worms.
Malware Encounters
Microsoft said that it calculated number of malware attacks by fetching data from Microsoft real-time security products that report a malware encounter.
Report said that encountering a malware or otherwise a cyber threat does not mean the computer has been infected, as Microsoft’s real-time security products mitigate majority of such threats.
However, it is alarming that more than 25% of  all computers in the country are attacked by malware, indicating that their internet usage involves websites that contain malware, worms or other kinds of cyber threats.
Ransomware Encounters
Report said that 0.8% to 0.12 percent of Pakistani computers were also encountered by ransomware. However, this number is lower than a lot of other (mainly mature) markets, indicating that Pakistani consumers are not attacked by ransomware by large.
Locations with the highest ransomware encounter rates include the Czech Republic (0.17 percent), Korea (0.15 percent), and Italy (0.14 percent).
Report said that more than 84% of computers in Pakistan were not enabled with any security software.
How to Keep Your PC Free from Malware
Microsoft has recommended following best practices to reduce the chances of encountering malware:
- Do not work in public Wi-Fi hotspots
- Regularly update the operating system
- Enable security software
- Don’t download data from internet sources that you don’t trust
- Implement two factor password protection
And #1 best practice: use licensed copy of Windows that gets security updates from Microsoft.
But of course Pakistanis will not pay for that so their computers and networks will get infected and reinfected forever.
So, an unregistered copy does not get security updates?
Unregistered copy is not fully secured by Microsoft. Most of the important services are stopped. Also security update is not complete security. It depends how much cracked software you have installed on your machine. In Pak you ll find cracked OS, cracked Office, cracked development tools, cracked anti virus (how stupid), cracked IDM and much more. If you cant afford software cost why you buy hardware. Still if you cant pay for software, switch to Linux or chrome OS
Sad thing is if you buy a laptop sometimes you can pay just Rs 4,000 extra to get the same model but with Windows preinstalled instead of no operating system (DOS). Yet people won’t pay that extra.
No.
According to your logic, you’re not “Pakistani”?
you need to change your negative mindset 1st and then use legal copy of windows and other software’s so you may think all the other “Pakistani” can pay for their software.
Huh? I have licensed copies of Windows XP and 10 (upgraded from 8) on two computers.
Any other comments to make about me?
I think properly cracked windows will get regular updates. Not everyone can afford Original Windows and out of these Four computers no one has latest hardware. People are still using 10 years old Core 2 Duo in Pakistan. (I think even pirated copies of Windows are Original too but only they are activated by illegal means.)
Do you know what is injected in crack software? when you crack OS your offer cracker to inject some malware in your system. Most of time you even don’t know which process is running and what is its purpose. Your second opinion, if yours cannot afford software; why should he buy hardware. It does not make scene.
Today most of people are using at least core 2 due or core i3. both of these systems can support windows 8, 10 OS. still if you are using win 7, it must not be cracked. and buy internet security. Your ll cost around 10000 for OS + anti virus
And how do you actually know that the crack or already preactivated windows contain malware? Most of the times even in original windows we don’t know which process is running and which info is being transferred.
completely agree with you. that is why I think everyone who has resources should buy original. but again most of Pakistanis don’t use computers in a creative way. it is just to watch movies or students will use them for study purposes but most common purpose is research purposes. I think you know what I mean by research. If you don’t then it is just research.
And the rest are Apple Mac computers or running Linux :p
Punjab Offering Free WiFi In Various City & Famous Places : Good
And do not click next, next instantly in setups as they try to install sponsored junks which may be the source of malware. Along with that, keep an eye on your task manager for any suspicious activity utilizing your resources.
We love to play with malwares. In other countries poeple install windows OS once a year but in pakistan we re-install every month.
We have very important software to install on our PC to open some websites for research purposes. So it happens bro.
I think there is no enough sense about malware. we should to be aware people about Security threads