Spanish security firm Panda Security recorded an average of 200,000 new malware strains every day in 2014 – more than double the figure of the previous year.
The vendor’s PandaLabs research division claimed to have stopped and blocked 75 million samples last year, more than twice the 2013 figure of 30 million.
What’s more, the firm said that it had come across 220 million pieces of malware since it began detecting malicious code, meaning that the huge figure blocked in 2014 accounts for a third (34%) of all malware ever written.
Unsurprisingly trojans came out as the most common malware, accounting for 70% of all new malware created, followed by viruses (12.3%), other malware (10%), worms (6%), and adware/spyware (3%).
Trojans also accounted for more infections than any other type of malware, at 65%, with infamous ransomware CryptoLocker branded one of the “nastiest” by PandaLabs technical director, Luis Corrons.
“We are experiencing a significantly greater amount of malware targeted across a larger number of devices. And despite the numbers of infected devices globally dropping overall, 2014 saw some of the worst data breaches ever, hackers disassembling entire corporate infrastructures and indiscriminate attacks on the entire online community,” he told Infosecurity.
“Cyber-criminals are showing themselves to be more resourceful and active than ever therefore companies and users must take a more active stance, maintaining awareness of security issues and employing all prudent protection solutions.”
It appears as if users in Europe are among the best in the world for taking such steps.
This region had the lowest infection rate globally, with nine countries ranked among the 10 least infected.
The top four consisted of: Sweden (20%), Norway (20%), Finland (21%) and the UK (22%).
At the other end of the scale, China remained the country with the highest global infection rate, at a whopping 49%, followed by Ecuador (42%) and Turkey (41.5%).
Despite all the doom and gloom, however, the average global infection rate of 30.4% stood significantly lower than the 2013 figure, according to Panda Security.