Number of Viruses Continues to Increase

One thing we talk about quite often on this site is computer security. We recently did some research and found that computer security should be talked about for good reason. We have found that the number of viruses and malware continues to increase as time goes on. The graph below shows that the number of viruses and malware continues to increase at an exponential rate.

Number of Viruses over time

As you can see, back in 2008 there were less than 200,000 viruses found by the top antivirus software companies. In 2010, the virus count had easily broken 1 million. As a computer user this increase in malware is very disturbing. Many of the virus software companies are reporting that this trend will either continue upward or at the very least will level off.

The increased number of threats is a constant reminder why we need to install a good antivirus and why we need to keep the antivirus definitions up to date. We recommend that you update your virus definitions daily and that you run a scan for malware weekly. It is also good practice to install a good firewall and practice safe web browsing.

Increased Mobile Attacks

One more trend that the top antivirus companies have been noticing is an uptick in mobile attacks. For example, malware that is directed at the iPhone or Android devices is on the rise. Due to this, it might be a good time to start analyzing how you browse the mobile web. It is also a good idea to start considering a mobile antivirus app. One thing to keep us hopeful is that Apple and Google are working on built-in security for these phones. Hopefully they will be able to keep our mobile devices safe.

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-By Dominic

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