The malware numbers game: how many viruses are out there?

Night Hawk

Member
VIP Member
Member
Messages
738
[h=1]
The malware numbers game: how many viruses are out there?[/h] By Ed Bott
April 15, 2012, 6:00pm PDT


Summary: How many distinct strains of malware are in circulation today? If you said hundreds of thousands or millions, you’re way off. A close look at numbers from one leading security company helps explain why some big numbers don’t tell the whole story.


How many strains of malware are in circulation right now, for Windows PCs, Android devices, and Macs?


That seems like a straightforward question, but the answer is far from simple. And the number might be a lot lower than you think.


If you check with the leading security companies, you might be tempted to pick an answer in the millions. After all, that’s how many listings you’ll find in the definition files for common antivirus programs. At day’s end on April 12, for example, Symantec published the summary shown below, noting that its latest Virus Definitions file contained 17,702,868 separate signatures.


eb-symantec-20120414-definitions.jpg



Oh my. 17.7 million? That certainly sounds like a very big number. But before you get swept away, it’s worth taking a closer look at what it really represents.


Eight days earlier, on April 4, that same Norton/Symantec definition file contained 17,595,922 separate detections. With 106,946 additional definitions in a mere eight days, you’d probably conclude that malware is out of control.


Because the Norton brand name is primarily associated with Windows PCs, you’d probably also assume that all of that activity was aimed at the Windows platform.

And you’d be wrong in both cases.

more
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    1st W10 Professional x64/W7 Ultimate x64 - 2nd Remote system: W10 Insider Builds/W7 Professional
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Builds
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 975 Deneb 3.6ghz -2nd case AMD Atholon II 3.2ghz
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4
    Memory
    Kingston Hyper-X DDR3 1600mhz 16gb - 2nd case Kingston Hyper-X "Fury" DDR3 1600mhz 8gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI Radeon HD 5750 1gb - 2nd AMD Radeon 6450
    Sound Card
    Creative Xtreme Gamer - 2nd case Realtek Onboard audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer 19" dual monitor setup - 2nd case HP 20" lcd
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900 same on both builds
    Hard Drives
    1st build
    WD Caviar Black Edition Sata II 1tb two OS drives
    WD RE "Heavy Duty Sata II 2tb two Storage/Backup
    2nd build
    WD Blue Sata II 500gb
    WD Black Edition Sata III 1tb
    WD Green Power Sata II 1tb in external usb enclosure
    PSU
    Corsair TX750H 750w -Corsair 500w
    Case
    Antec 900-2 -NXZT Vulcan Mini tower/carrying handle
    Cooling
    120mm front pair, 120 rear 200cm top - 120mm Front intake 200mm side cover
    Keyboard
    Azio Blue led back lit both builds.
    Mouse
    MSI DS200 11 button programmable Gaming optical mouse - Odessa 3 button dual scroll trackball
    Internet Speed
    30mbps
    Other Info
    two MSI 22x ide dvd burners, 25 usb flash drives used for Linux Live, live data recovery 128gb, and Windows 7, 10 usb installation keys
Back
Top