Number: IRCNE2015032442
Date: 2015/03/08
According to “cnet”, a new report from Spanish firm Panda Security offers further evidence that last year was a nasty one in the fight against malicious software -- the worst ever, actually.
In an annual report released Monday, Panda said that in 2014 it detected and eliminated 75 million samples of malicious software -- harmful code also known as malware, which includes things like computer viruses and worms. That's more than double the 30 million new malware strains recorded in 2013 by the company, which provides both home and business computer-security services. On average, 200,000 new malware strains were detected daily in 2014, the firm said.
In 25 years tracking malware, Panda has detected 220 million specimens -- and 34 percent of those were coded in 2014, according to the report.
"Security threats will increase in 2015, and both companies and home users must prepare themselves to respond to them," said Panda Security Technical Director Luis Corrons in a statement. "It is not a question of whether their security will be compromised but rather when and how, so in this case prevention is key."
Panda is just the latest malware-watcher to document the spike this year in malware. AV-Test, a company that tests the effectiveness of antivirus software, reported last month that malware spiked in 2014 to more than 143 million detections, up 72 percent from last year. And Kaspersky Lab, another provider of home and business security products, saw four times more mobile malware attacks in 2014 than the year before.
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