Over 100 Million Windows Devices Affected By Malware In 2020

Malware has plagued PC owners and several establishments for long years. Every year, millions of malware cases are recorded around the globe.

Two months ago, we reported on how notable tech companies formed a Task Force to bring the dreadful raid of ransomware to an end.

This week, newly published data shows that over 111 million malware launched attacks on Windows-supported devices last year.  

At first glance, the numbers are very disturbing. Actually, they’d remain concerning no matter how many times you view them.

However, we were a bit encouraged to find that the number (111 million +) reflects a 12% drop from the number of recorded malware attack cases in 2019. 

Out of the total attacks launched, nearly a 92.3million (83%) were found on personal devices.

On the other hand, 16.7million (15%) attacks were spotted on business devices. That leaves us with 2% of attacks that remain untraceable according to the report.

Malwarebytes in its ‘State of Malware’ report stated that “The remaining two percent of the malware cases were unspecified.” 

The little drops

Several analysts have commented on possible reasons for the drop in attacks.

It’d be presumptuous to attribute any reduction to the early success of the Task Force as it was only formed in December last year.

Although we do hope that we can begin to count the Task Force’s successes from the end of this year’s first quarter.

Perhaps we might be seeing more reductions in the attack and that will be delightful. 

However, most analysts suggest that lower numbers of malware infections could be pointing to attackers’ plans to re-strategize and reposition. Cybercriminals could be testing new waters. Probably finding more effective cyberspace methods against their victims. 

Malware Infections on personal systems reduced by 11% compared to 2019. The numbers went from 103.5 million attacks/infections in 2019 to 92.3 million in 2020. On the other side, infection on business PCs saw a 24% decline. It went from 22million in 2019 to 16.7million in 2020. 

Wreaking havoc behind the scenes.

Several malware infections contributed to the number of cases recorded last year. Chief amongst them was adware.

The malware accounted for 32% (35.5million) of attacks recorded last year. In 2019, adware accounted for over a 45.7million infections. 

Following closely behind adware is Trojan. Trojan accounted for 29.9million infections last year. Surprisingly other dormant malware experienced massive upsurges last year.

HackTool rose by 150 percent from 7.4million to 18.4 million infections. Rogue and Spyware also shut up 117%, and 28% respectively.  

While we hope that the Task Force will come to our rescue swiftly, PC users can protect themselves from malware by doing the following; 

• Update software. 
• Limit file sharing 
• Use VPNs 
• Limit downloads from unknown sources
• Avoid clicking on suspicious links. 

We’d bring you more on ongoing activities of the Task Force as events unfold.