14 DAY TRIAL // Cybercriminals have taken the fast lane to thieving and plundering, creating more than 20 million fresh strains of malware in the third quarter of the year, which translates into a rate of 227,747 new samples per day.
Most of these do not pose a risk for users with a reputable antivirus application guarding their computer, but the sheer number of malicious items being spilled in the wild on a daily basis is overwhelming.
Trojans rule over other malware types
Researchers with Panda Security made a report for the latest quarter of the year and found that most of the threats recorded through their systems were Trojans, accounting for 78.08% of the total number of samples, which does not come as a surprise because this category of malware encompasses a multitude of threats, ranging from backdoors, rootkits, infostealers, malware dowloaders and droppers, to ransomware and spyware.
Viruses and worms come in second and third place, accounting for 8.89% and 3.92%, respectively, according to a presentation from Technical Director of PandaLabs, Luis Corrons.
As far as the infection rates are concerned, Trojans were responsible for most of them, while potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) came in second, with 14.55%.
Infection distribution per country shows that China is in the lead with 49.83%, with Peru and Bolivia trailing behind.
According to the report, Europe is the region with the smallest number of infections, nine of the countries in this area being in the top ten most secure, with Norway and Sweden in the first places. Japan is the only Asian country on this list.
Mobile malware is an important aspect in the current threatscape
However, it is unclear the computer platforms these metrics were collected from, or the visibility the company has across other regions of the globe.
Malware for mobile operating systems has recorded an avid development and has evolved both in number and malicious capabilities. According to the International Telecommunication Unit, there are about 2.3 billion smartphones in the world, making mobile operating systems ripe for cybercriminal activity.
A report from Kaspersky released in October reveals that most mobile malware has been created for Android, and in the first half of the year their systems picked up 175,442 new unique malicious programs for this operating system alone.
Banking Trojans are the top threat for mobile phones, and as most malware for these devices, they come disguised as a legitimate app or update. The top cause of infection on Android, which is the most targeted mobile OS, is allowing the device to install apps that come from third-party stores poorly curated by their owners.