Storm Stella leads to spike in malware infections

Earlier this week, Storm Stella not only left parts of the North East US with up to three feet of snow, it led to an increase in malware infections too.

According to data released by Enigma Software, the company behind SpyHunter, infections jumped by between 15 and 90 percent in some areas hit hard by the storm.

"Any time we see a large number of people change their online habits, we see a change in infections," says Enigma spokesperson Ryan Gerding. "On Tuesday you had millions of people who stayed home from school and work. When they were snowed in, they went online, and when they went online, they got infections."

Enigma looked at infections on its customer's computers in the north east and compared them to infections in the days leading up to the storm. The list of areas that saw a big increase in infections on Tuesday is topped by Connecticut where infections jumped 91.47, New York City with an 83.43 percent spike, and New Jersey with an increase of 88.25 percent.

All of Pennsylvania saw a 79.18 percent spike, Boston saw a 37.65 percent jump, infections in Massachusetts jumped 27.06 percent and Philadelphia's infections increased by 14.95 percent.

For more on the findings including how the infections are being contracted and how users can protect themselves, you can visit the Enigma website.

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