A recent report by Spanish-based Internet security firm Panda, has officially confirmed our concerns that malware is on the rise. 2014 saw more than double the number of malware instances compared to the previous year, with that number continuing to creep up.
The report revealed that an average of around 200,000 new malware infection types occurred every day in 2014. Which is miniscule compared to the somewhat staggering 220 million new specimens – 34% of which were originally created and coded in the same year. That’s some fast moving work.
Trojan still holds the crown, accounting for 70% of new malware. Viruses come in a far throw below at 12.33%, with worms at 6% and adware/spyware a mere 3%.
But it’s not all bad news. The UK came up trumps, being credited as one of the safest countries on the planet (4th safest to be precise) with a 22% infection rate. Scandinavia took the top spot however, with Norway and Sweden each with a 20% infection rate.
China didn’t do so well having suffered a 49% infection rate, closely followed by Ecuador and Turkey. Columbia, Uruguay and Chile also scraped in above the global average of 30.42%.
But while countries are working hard to protect themselves from infection, the creation and occurrence of new malware continues to rise. One of the main reasons behind this increase lies in a new era of smart phone addiction – many of which are joining unprotected networks and running on out-dated software.
Security experts are predicting a growth in Cryptolocker attacks, advanced persistence threats (APT) and targeted attacks. They are also warning of the continued targeting of smartphones and other Internet-of-things devices, including point-of-sale terminals.
So it’s more important than ever to take security seriously, acting responsibly and keeping on top of any updates available.
