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Windows Users Face Six Times Greater Malware Risk
11 Aug
Summary
- Windows users are six times more likely to encounter malware than Mac users.
- 92% of threat detections occurred on Windows despite a smaller user base.
- Analysis covered 391,305 malware detections from January to July.

Windows users are grappling with substantially greater cybersecurity risks, experiencing malware threats six times more frequently than their macOS counterparts. This stark reality emerged from an investigation by VPN provider Surfshark, which analyzed threat detections logged between January 1 and July 31 of the current year.
During this period, Surfshark Antivirus recorded 391,305 malware detections. Windows devices, which constitute 66 percent of Surfshark's active user base, were implicated in a staggering 92 percent of all threat detections.
In contrast, macOS users, representing 34 percent of the user base, accounted for only eight percent of the recorded threat detections. This data underscores a significant disparity in malware exposure between the two operating systems.