Almost all new malware is targeting Windows
Millions of new Windows malware strains emerged in 2022
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Cybercriminals are releasing hundreds of thousands of newmalwarestrains 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 Windowsoperating system, which amounts to 95.6%.Linuxmalware 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.Microsoft’s operating system is by far the most dominant desktop product out there, holding roughly 30% of the global market share. According to Statcounter’s global stats, Android holds 43.47% of the market share, iOS 17.25%, and Linux 1.08%.
These are the top firewalls right now>6 types of Windows malware to watch out for - and how to remove them>New Windows malware uses a cunning technique to avoid detection
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,ransomwareremains the most destructive, and thus the most popular. Other popular variants include infostealers (capable of stealing storedpasswords, 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).
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Sead is a seasoned freelance journalist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about IT (cloud, IoT, 5G, VPN) and cybersecurity (ransomware, data breaches, laws and regulations). In his career, spanning more than a decade, he’s written for numerous media outlets, including Al Jazeera Balkans. He’s also held several modules on content writing for Represent Communications.
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