Thailand is the third-most dangerous country for internet users

By Coconuts Bangkok

According to eWeek, Thailand is the third-most dangerous country in the world for internet users.

The US tech publication released a list earlier this week of the countries in which internet users are most likely to acquire viruses or malware while surfing the web. Thailand is right up there near the top, surpassed only by China in the second slot and Indonesia in the first.

eWeek compiled its list from surveys run by online security companies, such as the Security Threat Report 2013, issued on Thursday by security firm Sophos.

Full story: http://www.coconutsb...internet-users/

-- COCONUTS Bangkok 2012-12-14

The report is completely misleading in it's title. This is not about Thailand, but about the web users located in Thailand... I copy few sentences from AVG reporting:

There are a number of reasons for the differences between countries: Some of it may be down to a tendency to access semi-legal or illegal download sites, while some of it probably is down to being less cautious when it comes to sharing links and files online. Another factor is the popularity of Internet cafes and people generally sharing computers, but even in these countries, a minority of users account for a large proportion of attacks.

Thus, the title should really read "Thailand is the country with the third biggest community of Internet dummies not caring about security while surfing"...

Not a surprise when it's so easy to get pirated software which can carry a high risk of being infected, take your computer to a shop to have it loaded up with pirated software, etc. And why worry about virus/malware top much...if your computer gets infected just go get the latest version of pirated software reloaded for a low cost.

The top 10 riskiest countries for malware and botnets, according to the security study:

1. Indonesia

2. China

3. Thailand

4. Philippines

5. Malaysia

6. India

7. Mexico

8. UAE

9. Taiwan

10. Hong Kong

I agree with Swiss1960 - the mentality of users in Thailand is scary, ignorance prevails. So many of my Thai friends don't put even free antivirus programs on their android smartphones despite having linked with all their personal and financial data like their email accounts and bank accounts. Looking at those I know with high-end androids, most won't even bother with (or be aware of) basic in-built functions like screen lock, encryption or remote controls to lock the phone remotely if it's lost.

I never have a problem, BUT: (1) I don't use pirated software, (2) I have a high quality virus protection program (BitDefender 2013) and keep it up-to-date and (3) I never open a thumb drive or anything else before I scan it. The biggest sources of viruses are pirated software, porn sites and "free" gaming sites. Thais love them all. The biggest cause of the rampant spread of these viruses is the careless exchange of thumb drives and files. Thais swap stuff back and forth on with their thumb drives with nary a thought of viruses. Finally, I have NEVER seen a single Thai computer that ran a decent virus protection program. The ONLY virus "protection" programs I have ever seen on a Thai computer are the free ones and they never keep them up-to-date.

I came to Thailand as a volunteer in the US Peace Corps and worked in an aubada (city hall). I brought them Internet and tried to keep all the computers and Internet functioning. It was s losing battle -- absolutely hopeless. I wrote a computer use policy designed to stop dangerous practices and had it translated to Thai. They all read it, said it was great stuff, then continued on as they always had, completely ignoring every detail of the policy. I would tell them not to do certain things. They would smile and agree, then continue on as always. My Peace Corps service is long over. I visit the old office occasionally The computers are all a wreck again, barely functioning and the Internet doesn't work.

So yeah, Thailand isn't anymore dangerous a place in which to compute than anywhere else; it's the negligent population that creates the bad statistics.

But if somehow a magic wan could be waved resulting in people not being able to so easily and cheaply get pirated software in Thailand, which in turn would force people to buy the real software (at the much higher prices), they would become much more "safeguarding" of the software and how they used their computers. This would also dry up many sources (i.e., stores selling pirated software) of virus/malware which all too frequently comes with that pirated software. And of course, wide spread use of AntiVirus/Firewall software just don't seem to occur with Thai's...or at least the Thai's I know...why worry too much...if my computer gets infected I just take it to the shop and get it cleaned and new software loaded at a low price...pick it up in a few hours. But while Thailand has laws on the books to prevent pirating of software, as we know it's not really enforced...only the few police raids so they can get some news published periodically showing they are strictly enforcing the laws each and every day...yea, right. Yeap, use of pirated software can be cheap but risky...to each his own.