Technology

Report: 34 percent of all malware created in 2010

Infosecurity Magazine reports on a Panda Labs study on malware growth over the years.

Federal News Network Staff

January 6, 2011 2:15 pm

< a min read

2010 was truly the year of cybercrime, cyberwar and cyberactivism. A new study says 34 percent of all malware ever created was created during 2010, Infosecurity Magazine reports.

Panda Labs, the research arm of Panda Security, found 20 million different strains of malware appeared over the course of last year. The reports says new threats have grown by at least 100 percent every year since 2003. But in 2010 – the increase was about 50 percent.

Banker trojans still dominated the ranking of new malware that appeared in 2010. They made up 56 percent of all reported threats. That was followed by viruses and worms.

Also, rogueware — fake anti-virus software — created a lot more havoc than it had previously. Thailand, China and Taiwan lead the list of countries list with the most viruses, with 60 to 70 percent of infected computers.

This story is part of Federal News Radio’s daily Cybersecurity Update brought to you by Tripwire. For more cybersecurity news, click here.