Security vendor F-Secure rolled out its 2007 data security summary, revealing that this year's malware has doubled, in comparison with the infections discovered last year. Moreover, the company detected approximately half a million threats, which proves us that the attackers are always there, working for new exploits. And we all know that every day comes with a new malware or threat, meant to harm our computers. Sure, you can protect your data, but in case your computer is not equipped with adequate technologies, you will be out of business.

"We've never seen as many samples arrive at our labs," says Patrik Runald, Security Response Manager at F-Secure Corporation. "We would be unable to handle such huge loads if we would not have built a high degree of automation into our malware analysis systems over the past years", he continued.

2007 was a pretty busy year when it comes to IT security and threat. Just think at the Storm avalanche, which affected so many computers all over the world. Don't forget the fake codecs attempting to trick visitors and convince them to install a malicious tool on their computer. Today came with a similar report, as the attackers aimed to infect the visitors who were looking for content related to an Internet porn star.

However, this year has also come with new threats for the platforms, which usually have been avoided by computer infections. Apple is the best example, as Mac OS X was affected by a Trojan attempting to change the DNS. "The year 2007 was a banner one for Apple - their hardware is more popular than ever. More Apple hardware equals a greater installed base of Apple software," F-Secure wrote in the report.

In addition, the new Mac OS X release, Leopard, might represent a new target for the cyber criminals out there. "There have already been numerous updates made available. Research has suggested that old security flaws may have been reintroduced; Leopard's new Firewall received criticism for its implementation and and thus may affect Apple's aura of perfect security," F-Secure noted.

For the complete F-Secure report, visit this website.