India/Russia: Top virus producers? Or just most vulnerable?

So there’s an article out there on the wild wild world of web claiming that India and Russia are now the #1 and #2 producers of malware.  The data is from Network Box, and the data (what data there is) is actually pretty interesting.  I have the one nit that saying “virus producers” implies “virus authors”, but looking at the data I don’t think that’s what they mean.  Instead, it looks like they are making the determination based on source of origin for attacks.  So this would mean something more along the lines of “virus originators” rather than “producers.”  So maybe the research is just telling us that they’re more vulnerable, not necessarily more inclined to produce malware.

Meh.  It’s interesting, but the article I cited didn’t really have too many details, and I can’t find the original source data, methodology, or report on the Network Box web site.  Which is too bad, because it’s good data.  There seems to be a trend of reports with catchy-sounding titles making their way across RSS feeds – they’re interesting enough to draw me in, but then doesn’t give enough “meat” to really unpack, analyze what they are talking about, and write about it in detail.

I’m not sure if it’s vendors that are putting these out as press releases without supporting data and analysis, if it’s press that’s picking it up and running with it without picking up the original details, or what the deal is.  I’m not sure, but it’s unfortunate because it limits the effectiveness of publishing it in the first place if there’s no way to unpack it and actually make use of the data for something.