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Avast’s 2021 Global PC Risk Report analysed the threats home and business Windows users encountered over the course of the past year, with Australian business users ranked 67th out of the 77 countries included in the report.
On average, business users around the world had a 15.10 per cent chance of encountering a threat, and in Australia, business users had a 12.78 per cent chance of encountering a threat.
According to Jakub Kroustek, Avast malware research director, while businesses are less at risk of encountering a threat than consumers, they more often than not have more to lose if they do fall victim.
“Digital threats put businesses’ productivity, profits and their reputation on the line.
“One attack can potentially cost a business profitability, productivity or the entire business, depending on the severity,” Kroustek said.
The countries in which business users are most at risk of encountering threats are:
The 10 countries with the lowest risk of encountering threats are:
Business users are less at risk than home users of encountering threats, as they often have layers of protection in place, with their networks and devices often managed by IT-security professionals, preventing them from encountering threats in the first place.
Methodology
The data included in the report is collected from Avast’s threat detection network and represents the average ratio of Avast users protected monthly from at least one threat divided by the total number of monthly active Avast users from 1 January 2021 - 31 December 2021.
In order to provide statistically relevant data, the report included data from countries and territories with a sample size of at least 10,000 computers belonging to home users that encountered threats during the months the data was collected, and at least 1,000 computers used by businesses.
The regional breakdowns included in this report includes data from regions with a sample size of at least 1,000 computers belonging to home users that encountered threats during the months the data was collected and at least 100 computers used by businesses.
Avast observed a decline in ransomware attacks at the end of 2021, Kroustek further explained, as a result of the coordinated cooperation of nations, government agencies, and security vendors to tackle ransomware gangs.
“Unfortunately, the ongoing war in Ukraine could spill over into the cyber world, as we have seen in the past, and businesses worldwide could be affected,” Kroustek concluded.
[Related: Board level executives assume they’ll never be attacked, survey reveals]
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