Our 3Q08 Global Threat Report included some preliminary data concerning Web malware encounter rates specific to industry verticals. This week, the full Vertical Risk Assessment is now available for download.

One point that can’t be over emphasized – all verticals face increased risk of Web malware encounters in 2008 (up 553% from the 4Q07). The Vertical Risk Assessment analyzes the individual vertical risks compared to all verticals combined. To do this, we measured the median rate of encounter for each Web malware category for all verticals and compared that to the median rate of encounter to the same category for each specific vertical.

The Vertical Risk Assessment consists mainly of charts that reflect the outcome of this analysis. A + (plus) score indicates that particular vertical had an encounter rate that was higher than the median for all verticals; a – (minus) indicates a lower encounter rate compared to the median.

I can sum up the results of the Vertical Risk Assessment in one word:

Disturbing.