In the recent months, Microsoft has been struggling to make Windows more secure and now its efforts are paying off, as the number of malware infections aimed at its operating system has reduced substantially last year, which is according to a new research.
According to a report by security institute AV-TEST, it has also been revealed that at the same time macOS and Linux have been targeted more often, with Apple systems recording three times more attacks than in previous years.
The report states the number of malware programs which targeted Windows increased by 10 per cent. But the number of malware programs specifically created for Windows systems dropped by 13 per cent.
Though Windows still remains the system which has been attacked most of the times, with 7 out of 10 new forms of malware aimed at Microsoft’s OS, Apple and Linux devices also recorded an increase of attacks by three times, research has shown.
One of the top malware for Windows last year was the Allaple, which has been active since 2006, followed by Virut, Ramnit, and Virlock. Despite the ransomware attacks burst this year with WannaCry and Petya, ransomware attacks accounted for only 0.94 per cent of all malware which were aimed at Windows. However, viruses and worms topped the charts with 37.60 per cent and 25.44 per cent respectively.
The research states, “The number of malware samples in 2016 declined by 15% compared to previous year. However, the fever curve rose again by 7% in the first quarter of 2017. At the time this report was concluded at the end of June 2017, there were already 600 million malware programs detected by AV-TEST targeting the frequently used operating system from Redmond.”
In the macOS department, Trojans accounted for one of the biggest threats with 85.59 per cent of the attacks, while ransomware accounted for just 0.07 per cent.
“With an increase rate of over 370% compared to the previous year, it is no exaggeration to speak of explosive growth. However, it is also important to keep an eye on the overall number of malware programs with which criminals try to cheat Mac users: Whereas in 2015 there were a moderate 819 different malware threats targeting macOS, Apple users in 2016 already had to protect their devices from 3033 malware samples,” AV-TEST has explained.
The top three macOS forms of malware last year were Flashback, MacControl, and Keranger.
