Almost all new malware is targeting Windows

Date:
Mon, 05 Dec 2022 21:03:51 +0000

Description:
2022 was a big year for new malware strains, with more than 95% targeting Windows users.

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Cybercriminals are releasing hundreds of thousands of new malware strains every day, with a huge proportion exclusively targeting Windows users, a new report has claimed.

Researchers from Atlas VPN using statistics published by AV-TEST GmbH concluded that in the first three quarters of 2022, there had been a total of 62.29 million new malware sample detections, or roughly 228,164 new variants every day.

Of that number, 59.58 million new malware samples were designed to target the Windows operating system, which amounts to 95.6%. Linux malware took up
second place (1.76 million samples/2.8%), while the top three rounded off
with Android. Most popular OS

According to Atlas VPN, the mobile OS has seen 938,379 new threats between Q1 and Q2 2022, or 1.5% - and for macOS, researchers found 8,329 never before seen variants.

The key reason why cybercriminals are so focused on Windows is its
popularity, researchers claim. Microsofts operating system is by far the most dominant desktop product out there, holding roughly 30% of the global market share. According to Statcounters global stats, Android holds 43.47% of the market share, iOS 17.25%, and Linux 1.08%. Read more

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Despite the horrid stats, the outlook is not as grim as it may seem. The researchers are saying that compared to the same period last year, the number of new malware strains has actually declined significantly - by more than a third (34%).

Of all the different variants, ransomware remains the most destructive, and thus the most popular. Other popular variants include infostealers (capable
of stealing stored passwords , credit card information, key strokes and screenshots), cryptocurrency miners (also known as cryptojackers) and bots (using the compromised endpoints to launch distributed denial of service attacks, which could be sold as a service). Check out the best endpoint protection services around



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/almost-all-new-malware-is-targeting-windows


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