Internet in Africa - safest in the world

According to a report by the Internet security firm AVG 7 of the 10 safest countries in which to use the Internet are in Africa, with Sierra Leone rated the safest. AVG researchers have compiled a list of virus and malware attacks by country that have been detected by AVG security software, with data from more than 127 million computers in 144 countries to determine incidence rates of such attacks. Average incident rate for Sierra Leone was one attack for every 692 Web surfers.

Sierra Leone was followed by Niger with one in every 442 surfers likely to be attacked while online.

However, the figured should be considered in context of low Internet penetration in the African countries. AVG Chief Research Officer Roger Thompson wrote on his blog that the research should serve as a warning to those who are travelling to other countries with plans to use the Internet.

The Caucasus region was the most vulnerable for online attacks, while by country Turkey, Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan have the highest rates of virus and malware attacks. The US ranked ninth with one in every 48 Web surfers at risk, while the UK was 30th with a rate of one in 63.