Malicious files grow by over 5 percent daily
by AKANI CHAUKE
JOHANNESBURG – THE continuous rise in the number of devices used worldwide is fuelling a daily increase in malicious files.
In 2021, Kaspersky’s detection systems discovered 380 000 malicious files per day, indicating a 5,7 percent increase compared to 2020.
Traditionally, most threats (91 percent) occurred via WindowsPE files – a file format specific to Windows operating systems.
However, in 2021 cybercriminals started spreading threats associated with the Linux operating system more actively than ever before.
As a result, the number of detected Linux malware and unwanted software grew by 57 percent.
More than half (54 percent) of the threats detected by Kaspersky’s systems comprised unspecified Trojans.
“Throughout the past year, we discovered 20 000 more malicious files per day compared to the previous year,” said Denis Staforkin, a security expert at Kaspersky.
He said this was expected.
“Online activity is still at its height due to remote working being adopted worldwide,” Staforkin explained.
He said furthermore, the major shift to online operations also meant more devices were being used worldwide.
That leads to a wider attack surface and, subsequently, wider exposure to threats.
“Therefore, improving digital literacy and keeping their security solutions up to date are two extremely important tasks for users today,” the expert said.
Kaspersky is a global cyber security and digital privacy company.
– CAJ News
