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Fully patched PCs are a rare breed

Security: We've heard of it

By John Leyden • Get more from this author

Posted in Software & Security, 9th January 2008 19:08 GMT

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A small minority of users - as few as one in 20 - is running fully-patched Windows PCs.

Just five per cent of newly-registered users of an online security inspection service Secunia came out with a clean bill of health, while more than 40 per cent have at least 11 insecure applications installed.

The data is based on scans of 20,009 computers whose users recently installed Secunia's freely available software inspection tool. Secunia claims a total user base of more than 200,000 users for its free Secunia PSI tool. A survey of a different sample set of Secunia PSI recently discovered that one in five software apps installed on computers are insecure or out of date.

The Danish security firm said stats from its service show users are struggling to keep their PCs up to date. "Patching a PC is as important as running anti-virus and a personal firewall," said Thomas Kristensen, Secunia's CTO. ®

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