China topped the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan, in malicious activity, producing the most malicious code, spam zombies, bots and attacks between Jan.1 and Jun. 30, according to Symantec's biannual internet security threat report.
China's bot-infected computers made up 78 percent of those in the region. Taiwan had the next highest number of bots, but only at 7 percent.
Noting that the majority of China's Windows users use pirated versions, Ooi Szu Khiam, a senior security consultant at Symantec Singapore, says: "If you don't have a genuine version, you can't register for patches, and those who don't patch their systems are open to a growing number of exploits."
Ooi added that users become "sitting ducks", or easy targets, as they leave themselves open to malicious attacks by not applying security patches.
Source: Business Week, http://businessweek.com