More than 55,000 new malicious software programs are registered each day by AV-Test an independent antivirus (AV) research institue.  Any one of these can have a mild to devastating impact on the organization, randing from wasted IT staff hours to damages to consumer confidence or losses of dollars in the instance of a regulatory violation. 

 

In fact, the average organization experiences a malware attack every 73 days, Osterman Research found in a 2011 study, in which 44% of participants said that a single malware attack had cost them as much as $10,000, while another 27% reported financial impacts as high as $50,000.  Too few IT decision-makers address malware threats adequately, chalking up security breaches as a cost of doing business, the researchers noted, adding, "The costs oof malware] are typically higher than many organizations realize, but with the right knowledge and technologies, it is possible to reduce the impacts of malware."  Canalys Research has likewise concluded that no organization is immune to the problem. "Security risks to businese of all sizes are prevalent," analyst Nushin Hernandez said in a December 2011 report. "The need to secure sensitive data is more critical than ever."  The experts agree that AV software is a must-have for business PC users — though it's necessary to take care in choosing one. As the following makes clear, user experiences with AV solutions can vary widely.

 

To further shed light on the current state of AV protection, a four-question poll was administered randomly over a three-week period between February and March 2012 to IT leaders, IT managers, software architects, and other enterprise technology decision-makers and influencers arriving at Slashdot (http://www.slashdot.org).

 

This document breaks down of their responses.  

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