In Brief: Chinese computers suffer virus epidemic

China's computers are being plagued by viruses, with nearly three quarters of them infected between May 2005 and May 2006.

Although the high rate of vulnerability is believed due to a lack of maintenance and repair of software, China's Ministry of Public Security says the infection rate is down 6 percent year-on-year, Xinhua, China's government-operated news agency, reported.

The annual survey, based on answers to 13,824 questionnaires, indicated 54 percent of companies queried reported Internet security problems. Of those, 84 percent had computer virus problems, 36 percent suffered from port scanning or Internet attacks, and 35 percent received junk mail, Xinhua said.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International