Houston leads the nation in the number of computer and mobile devices infected with malware, or software that can damage or disable those devices, according to one technology security firm's analysis.
Colorado-based Webroot combed through its 2016 data collected through its anti-phishing service and other capabilities to estimate the number of personal computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones that are infected in the nation's metro areas.
The company estimates that for Houston, 60,801 devices were infected -- leading No. 2 Chicago by more than 11,000 devices. The other Top 10 cities, ranked in order, were Phoenix, Denver, San Antonio, Dallas, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Minneapolis and Charlotte, N.C. Each infected device has, on average, between six and 24 pieces of malware installed.
The full list is:
Houston – 60,801
Chicago – 49,147
Phoenix – 42,983
Denver – 39,711
San Antonio – 39,646
Dallas – 37,630
Los Angeles – 34,050
Las Vegas – 31,836
Minneapolis, Minn. – 28,517
Charlotte, N.C. – 27,092
"Our most infected cities list shows that cybercriminals have no geographical bias," said David Dufour, senior director of engineering at Webroot. "Whether you live in a big city or small town, from east coast to west coast and everywhere in between, you are susceptible to being a victim of malware. It is in everyone's best interest to run a security solution on their personal device, and to make sure that all security software subscriptions are current."