Malware Growth

Some growth records are not happy news. Take malware for example. AV-Test.org, an independent testing organization, states it now has 578 million malware samples in its testing database. To put that into perspective, that is about 4-5 new malware samples per second.

Of the total malware samples, over 115 million were discovered in 2016. Equally disturbing is the continued growth in Android-based malware. AV-Test/org has identified over 16 million malware samples that operate in the Android space.

Viruses have significantly increased, up to about 49% of the total Windows-based malware in 2016 compared to about 30% in 2015. Trojans also increased in 2016, up to 30% vs 21.5% in 2015. Worms are down, to about 11.5% in 2016, compared to 30% in 2015.

What you can do

Don’t be complacent just because the nightly news is not covering a new malware discovery that might impact your network. Unfortunately, there is so much new malware being launched, attacks are not always news. But a new launch might be damaging to your system.

Be sure to have up-to-date anti-virus/anti-malware software installed on all of your devices – including mobile devices. AV-Test.org does testing of numerous anti-malware software packages and removal tools and reports their findings. Or a simple search engine query will help you find software options.

And if your business’ network is attacked, there are tools that can remove the malware and clean up your system.

About the Author - Carolyn Schrader is a seasoned cybersecurity professional and founder of the Cyber Security Group Inc., providing corporate cybersecurity services to high profile clients.