N.H. infected with way more malware than any other state, claims anti-malware company

Companies that make software to fight malware issue lots of alarming press releases about malware and I take them with a grain of self-serving salt. But here’s one that tweaked my Granite State interest:

Computer users in New Hampshire were three times as likely to get a malware infection as the national average, according to data released by Enigma Software Group (ESG), makers of the SpyHunter anti-malware program. The ESG research team compiled their latest data based on more than 1.5 million infections detected on SpyHunter in all 50 states in the first six months of 2017.

I haven’t been able to reach ESG to ensure this isn’t a case of misinterpreted IP address, but since it claims to be using data from programs you install on your system, it seems reasonable to assume they’ve got the geography correct. So how come we were so hard-hit this year? Who knows, as their press release admits:

“It’s hard to tell exactly why some states have higher infection rates than others,” said ESG spokesperson Ryan Gerding. “In the top five alone, you’ve got east coast and west coast states, highly populated states and sparsely populated ones”

I spotted this via this BetaNews report, that notes most of the involves involve “nuisance-ware rather than more damaging viruses” and that there is good news: “Overall infections have dropped on a monthly basis since January. …  Enigma’s team believes that’s due in part to users updating to more secure versions of the Windows operating system.”

Maine and Massachusetts were somewhat above the national average; Vermont was average. Here’s the data, cut and pasted from the company statement on their website: