Avast Global PC Risk Report 2020 Shows a 27% Increase in the Risk of PC Users Encountering Cyber Threats

The chance of consumers encountering an advanced threat increased 20% compared to the previous year.

Avast a global leader in digital security and privacy products, today revealed that the overall chance of home users encountering a cyber threat has increased, worldwide. According to the Avast Global PC Risk Report 2020, home users have a 25.6% chance of encountering any type of PC malware, up from 20.1% the previous year. 

Home users have a 6.7% chance of being targeted by an ‘advanced’ threat, a 20% increase compared to the year before, where the risk ratio was 5.6%. Avast defines advanced threats as new, not yet before seen threats, designed to bypass common protection technologies included in security software, such as signatures, heuristics, emulators, URL filtering, and email scanning. 

In the United States, the likelihood of a home user coming across any type of threat increased 49% within a year, from 13.8% to a 20.5% chance of encountering a threat. Americans have a 5.0% probability of facing an advanced threat, an increase of 34% from the previous year where the risk ratio was 3.7%.

“Our 2020 reports show that the risk ratio has increased worldwide for all threats. The number of connected devices continues to increase dramatically and this report illustrates how computers remain vulnerable as they form an important part of the attack chain, ” said Luis Corrons, Security Evangelist at Avast. “Cybercriminals create threats that take advantage of the activities carried out by home users, and exploit their potential lack of cybersecurity awareness and cautiousness, making it vital for everyone to install a reliable security solution on all devices possible.”

The top 10 countries in which home users are most at risk of encountering any type of threat changed slightly from 2018 to 2019, with Venezuela, Algeria, Saint Lucia, Yemen, and Angola replacing Ethiopia, Egypt, Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar.