Malware continues to break records, with an average of 227 747 new samples created daily, according to PandaLabs figures for the third quarter of 2014.
“We’ve seen 2014 fast become the ‘year of the breach’ as cyber-attacks have increased dramatically and a common trend in the majority of attacks, is the use of malware to gain access to information,” says Jeremy Matthews, country manager of Panda Security.
The last four months has seen large high profile organisations fall victim to cyber-attacks; companies such as JP Morgan Chase, Target, Home Depot and online services such as Dropbox and iCloud.
The most recent victim is Sony, the Japanese multinational conglomerate. The hack on the company led to upcoming films and workers’ personal data, such as social security numbers and salaries being leaked online. The malware used in the attack was undetectable by industry standard antivirus software and was damaging and unique enough to cause the FBI to release a flash alert to warn other international organisations of the critical threat.
Trojans continue to be the most common malware during the third quarter period, accounting for 75% of infections, compared to 62,80% in the previous quarter. PUPs ranked second, representing 14,55% of infections, decreasing since the second quarter. Adware/spyware comprises 6,88% of infections, worms at 2,09% and viruses at 1,48% – down since the second quarter.
The global infection rate increased from 36,87% in the second quarter to 37,93% in the third quarter. The results for each country shows that China is still at the top, reaching an infection rate of 49,83%. China is followed by Peru at 42,38% and Bolivia at 42,12%.
Europe remains the region with the lowest infection rate, with nine European countries ranking in the top 10 most secure countries.
