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82 000 malware strains created daily

Admire Moyo
By Admire Moyo, ITWeb's news editor.
Johannesburg, 15 Apr 2014
The proportion of infected computers has been consistent at 31.5% over the past two years, says Panda Security.
The proportion of infected computers has been consistent at 31.5% over the past two years, says Panda Security.

Last year, a total of 30 million new malicious strains were in circulation, an average of 82 000 per day.

This is according to the 2013 annual report of PandaLabs, Panda Security's anti-malware laboratory, which states that cyber criminals created and distributed 20% of all malware that has ever existed.

The growth brought the grand total of all malware samples in PandaLabs' database to approximately 145 million.

Panda says 2013 saw a diverse and innovative range of cyber attacks. These included new waves of the infamous Police Virus, a resurgence of ransomware specimens and the continued growth of Android malware. Trojans continue to be the most common security threat, accounting for 71% of all new malware and three out of four malware infections, the report says.

It notes that the proportion of infected computers has been consistent at 31.5% over the past two years. China and Turkey lead as the most malware-infected countries, with 54% and 42% of computers infected, respectively, says Panda, adding that Sweden boasts the lowest level of malware infections with only 20.3% of computers infected.

Java continues to be a major infection vector, the report notes, pointing out that Twitter, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft all fell victim to a sophisticated attack infecting employees' computers by exploiting an unpatched Java vulnerability.

The Syrian Electronic Army hacking collective continued their attacks using phishing techniques to hack into the New York Times, Twitter and even some White House Employees' computers, it reveals.

The report also states that over two million strains of malware, which specifically target the Android platform, were in circulation, making it the most vulnerable platform for mobile users.

Most of the attacks used malicious ads in legitimate apps to infect devices; however, attacks on Android are becoming smarter and more targeted, modifying legitimate files to exploit user devices, undetected, says Panda.

It warns that over the next 12 months, special attention must be given to the increasing number of Android threats, expecting attacks to be increasingly malicious, stealing money and data.

Panda believes that the NSA will continue to be in the media spotlight as new stories emerge about spying operations - the continuous violation of people's privacy continuing to grab headlines.

"In the wake of PandaLabs' findings, users must ensure that they are well protected against zero-day threats and malware that takes advantage of unknown and unpatched vulnerabilities." says Jeremy Matthews, country manager for Panda Security. "IT security is most effective when planned holistically, combining different tools and approaches to protect data from criminals."

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