- The data has been extracted from a study carried out by PandaLabs in 2007 on a sample of 1.5 million of users
- To raise awareness of this risk situation, Panda Security is launching Infected or Not (http://www.infectedornot.com), a campaign designed to educate users about the current malware situation
- Panda leverages the largest databases of analyzed programs in the world with more than 100 million, and over more than 11 million malware samples
Barcelona, April 11, 2008-A study carried out by PandaLabs of more than 1.5 million users revealed that 72% of companies with an up-to-date security solution installed had malware on their networks. In end-user environments, the study confirmed that 23% of home computers were infected. Current data indicates that the situation has not improved.
The underlying reason is that traditional security solutions are no longer enough to protect users’ computers from the increasing number of malware samples that appear every day. This means that many users are infected without realizing.
In order to make people aware of this problem, Panda Security has launched the Infected or Not campaign (http://www.infectedornot.com). Through this initiative, both users and companies will have the possibility to run free security assessment on their PCs and networks, using the largest analyzed programs database in the world with more than 11 million malware samples and, as a result, improve the security of their computers. The first ten companies that demonstrate that they are not infected will win €5.000.
“Many users and IT managers believe that all security solutions are the same, and that simply having a traditional antivirus installed provides sufficient protection, yet the truth is quite different. Due to the evolution of malware, a user of a traditional antivirus solution is still significantly exposed”, explains Matthieu Brignone, CMO at Panda Security. “This could result in confidential data being stolen, identity theft and ultimately, people’s credit cards, bank accounts, etc. being raided.”
The reason why Panda can detect malware that has evaded other solutions is “Collective Intelligence”. Through the Infected or Not campaign, Panda Security aims to prove that this innovative technology is providing much better protection than the competition and that it therefore represents a significant advantage over other security solutions.
“Collective Intelligence” is an innovative security model based on the collection of information concerning malware from the Internet community and the automated processing of this data in new data centers. As the knowledge is accumulated on Panda servers and not on customers’ computers, “Collective Intelligence” maximizes the detection capacity of Panda Security solutions while reducing clients’ bandwidth usage and resource consumption. This not only provides far greater security but also simplifies the protection process.
Currently, Panda Security’s Collective Intelligence network comprises 4 million computers. The knowledge accumulated in the system is composed of more than 11 million malware samples, and over 100 million analyzed programs. In 2007, more than 94% of all new threats that reached PandaLabs were detected through Collective Intelligence. At present, the system has a malware knowledge base of more than 100 million bytes.
“This model ensures that Panda solutions detect more than other security products, and if we fail to find a threat on a user’s computer they could win an iPod Nano, or €5,000 in the case of companies” says Matthieu Brignone.