New #malware in 2022: In total we captured 69,504,686 new #samples for #windows, 12,445 new samples for #macOS, 1,917,133 new samples for #Linux and 1,073,866 new samples for # Android. Our malware database grew by a total of 98,084,563 samples this year. https://t.co/Dy0fTOnKga pic.twitter.com/Can5P3N1w8
— AV-ATLAS (@avatlasorg) December 22, 2022
We cannot deny that the recent COVID-19 pandemic forced companies to find smarter solutions and tools to be able to maintain the continuity of their activities. Due to the need for social distancing, many workers began to carry out their duties in their own homes remotely, making businesses more exposed to various digital threats.
With the rise of remote workers, cybercriminals have broader attack surfaces. Since this adaptation had to happen in an imposed and very fast way, companies' network infrastructure has become more fragile and susceptible to security threats.
On the other hand, we know that the security of users and their operating systems (Windows, macOS and Linux) has never been so much at stake, again malware. Users try to protect themselves and their data, but new threats are constantly emerging to put them in danger. With macOS gaining more and more visibility, it was expected to be an obvious victim. Still, the data shows the opposite and Windows was attacked 5000 times more than macOS and 60 times more than Linux.
Is there more and more malware for Windows?
As seen throughout 2022, security threats and attacks grew in number and innovation. Every month new types of malware, which focused on the operating systems that are on the market and are the most used by everyone.
AV-TEST, which is dedicated to evaluating and testing security solutions on the market, compiled all these threats and now has very interesting numbers to show. These reflect what the year 2022 was like in terms of malware and in particular the platforms that were most attacked.
macOS and Linux are not immune either
Os data show there are about 70 million new samples of malware on Windows, which surpasses that of macOS, which only saw about 12.000 samples. Therefore, the number of malicious files on Windows is more than 5.000 times compared to mac.
This same comparison, but with Linux, is much more favorable for Windows, as about 2 million samples were captured on this system. However, Windows numbers are still more than 60 times higher than what this system had.
Interestingly, and although the total count of malware is certainly too high for Windows, the growth rate has been steadily decreasing since September. On macOS, and although the total count of malware is relatively low, the growth rate increased sharply in November and December. Linux, on the other hand, is probably the most impressive, as it seems to have completely run out of new malware. The growth rate has been very low since June and continues through December.
