US leads the world in computer attacks

Unsecured PCs provide cyber-criminals with a platform from which to compromise other computers

The US is leading the world in the number of computer attacks that originate from within its borders, according to new data from SecureWorks.

The security-as-a-service provider recorded 20.6 million attempted attacks from computers within the US. China came second with 7.7 million.

However, SecureWorks warned that it is not necessarily that there are more attackers in America, just that there are more poorly secured computers.

"We believe these statistics are significant because they clearly show that the US and China have a lot of compromised computers that are being used as bots to launch cyber-attacks," said Hunter King, security researcher at SecureWorks.

"This should be a warning to organisations and personal computer users that they are putting their computers and networks at risk, and actually providing cyber-criminals with a platform from which to compromise other computers."

Brazil came third in the league tables with over 166,987 attempted attacks, followed by South Korea with 162,289, Poland with 153,205, Japan with 142,346, Russia with 130,572, Taiwan with 124,997, Germany with 110,493 and Canada with 107,483.