Monday, March 22, 2010

Seattle, Portland Rank High On List of Cities At Risk For Cybercrime

A new report released today by security software vendor Symantec has Seattle ranked at number 1, and Portland as number 10, on a list of the cities most exposed to cybercrime. According to Symantec, it used a combination of data from its own security research tracking cyber attacks and malware infections, along with third-party data about online behavior, such as accessible WiFi hotspots and online shopping usage, to make up the list. Seattle ranked at number one due to the number of cyber attacks in the city, Symantec said. Exact factors were not released by Symantec. Interestingly enough, the city that was judged "least risky" was Detroit--because of low rates of access to the Internet, low expenditures on computer equipment, and lack of wireless Internet access in the city. The top ten cities were 1) Seattle 2) Boston 3) Washington, D.C. 4) San Francisco 5) Raleigh, N.C. 6) Atlanta 7) Minneapolis 8) Denver 9) Austin, Texas and 10) Portland, Ore.