McAfee reports increase of illegal filesharing from the Netherlands

According to the American computer- and network security company McAfee, the illegal distribution of copyrighted material from the Netherlands is increasing. This is one of the conclusions in the "McAfee Threats Report, First Quarter 2011", which was presented this week.

The Netherlands scores a remarkable fifth place on the list of common countries of origin of pirated content. The list is lead by the United States and Germany, both much larger countries, followed by China and Russia, countries often mentioned as having a poor IP enforcement track record. The research measured the amount of websites that offer illegal software or copyrighted material like movies and music.

The scope of the survey is the first quarter of 2011. McAfee also studied the spread of malware and spam, issues that are the central focus of the company, as they produce anti-virus software. McAfee reveils the amount of malware that is currently active on the internet is unprecedented. Especially on Android devices digital attacks are increasing.

This development is not surprising when looking at the increasing popularity of Android, and the increasing amount of content and services that can be used on Android phone. A total of six million different kinds of malware was found.

In the area of spam, the first quarter of this year is looking bright. The shutdown of a few large botnets, like Rustock and Zeus, have resulted in a significant decline in the amount of spam sent, said McAfee.

Sources: McAfee, Beveiligingswereld