http://www.computerworld.com 12/4/07
Finnish security vendor F-Secure has collected twice as many malicious software samples this year as it has over the last 20 years, a trend that highlights the growing danger of malicious software on the Internet.
Through the end of 2006 and 20 years prior, F-Secure counted a total of 250,000 samples, said Mikko Hypponen, F-Secure's chief research officer. This year alone, 250,000 samples have been counted, he said.
Statistics on malware from antivirus companies can vary since the data is often derived from what their customers experience while using their software, and it depends on how widely that software is used.
But other security vendors have also noted the flood of new malware on the Internet over the last few years. Symantec said earlier this year that it detected 212,101 new malicious code threats between January and June, an increase of 185% over the same period a year prior.
The astounding increase shows that hackers "are generating large number of different [malware] variants on purpose to make the lives of antivirus vendors more difficult," Hypponen said.
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