Viruses - is the threat over?

Whether through better security protection or hackers turning their attention to more lucrative exploits the threat of the PC virus appears to be receding.

Lovebugs, Storm Worms and Bagels aren't bothering silicon.com readers anymore - the majority of respondents to our latest survey haven't suffered a virus attack for years.

When asked when their PC last got a virus, a lucky third of readers said never, while almost half (48 per cent) said they last got a virus between one and five years ago.

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Just seven per cent of the 484 readers who took the poll had been hit with a virus in the last year, six per cent in the last six months and an unlucky seven per cent in the last month.

This is despite recent research from Symantec, which said it had received 212,101 reports of new malicious code threats during the first six months of 2007, a 185 per cent increase on the previous six months. The security company has also warned that cyber crime is becoming an increasingly professional business with malware toolkits for sale on the internet.