Nowadays, criminals are starting to rely on computer malware more often to generate profit. While some people may think this trend will improve soon, the statistics are painting a very troublesome picture. In fact, there are quite a few worrying facts about computer viruses most people remain unaware of. In this article we outlined some of the trends that piqued our interest.
4. Malware Became A Major Trend in 2012
Contrary to popular belief, malware has been a problem for much longer than most people would remember. In fact, the first samples of malware saw the light of day back in 2006. However, it took until 2012 before this trend showed up on the radar. The years 2014 and 2015 have been the first by far, whereas 2016 saw slightly less new malware being distributed to computer users all over the world. It is evident something changed in 2012, although no one knows for sure why malware became far more popular ever since.
3. Close to 600 Million Malware Infections To Date
Keeping in mind how more and more criminals are relying on malware deployment than before, it is not surprising they carry out a lot of attacks. Distributing malicious software has become easier, but that doesn’t mean devices will be infected successfully. Computer and mobile users are becoming smarter and can detect multiple attack vectors with relative ease.
Unfortunately, this does not mean the total number of malware infections is declining. Instead, the numbers only keep going up, although at a slower pace than most security experts had anticipated. As of right now, there are nearly 600 million malware infections security researchers know about. Compared to 2012, that number more than quintupled (5X). At this rate, it won’t be that long until we surpass 1 billion malware infections on a global scale.
2. Nearly Every Spam Campaign Carries A Ransomware Payload
Ransomware has become the most popular form of malware to be distributed by criminals. The most commonly used methods of distribution is via emails. Rather than using target emails, criminals use the system that has made them so much money over the past few years: spam email campaigns. Nearly every spam campaign in existence today is used to distribute some form of ransomware payload. Locky is by far the most commonly discovered payload, although other versions are found in different regions of the world.
1. Companies Stockpile Bitcoin To Thwart Malware Attacks
It has been said over and over again, meeting a criminal’s ransom when a computer or network is infected with malware is never the solution. Doing so will create a financial incentive for criminals to attack other companies, or to target the same company with multiple campaigns in a row. Additionally, there is no guarantee making the payment will effectively help victims get rid of the malware to begin with.
It is rather surprising to find out a lot of enterprises around the world stockpile bitcoin to pay off malware attackers. While paying the ransom is the fastest way of solving the problem, it is a rather troublesome development. This goes to show a lot of companies are not concerned about protecting their data in the first place, but rather prefer to take the easy way out. This is not the way businesses should behave in this day and age of digitization, that much is certain.
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