Malware - Statistics & Facts

Malware, or malicious software, is designed to take charge or disrupt its victim's computer infrastructure. By posing as harmless files or links, these programs trick users into downloading them – thus allowing foreign access not only to the victim's computer but to the entire network within an organization. The main motivations for these attacks are to steal personal or corporate information and to cause disruption in operations. In 2022, 5.5 billion malware attacks were detected around the world with the majority of these attacks occurring in the Asia-Pacific region. Among the most frequently blocked types of malware attacks were worms, viruses, ransomware, trojans, and backdoor. Between the two main attack vectors, e-mail, and websites, the latter were used for phishing attacks more often.

Industries most targeted by malware attacks

When it comes to the most attacked industry sectors by cyber criminals, it highly depends on the organizations' vulnerability and the amount of data they possess. Usually, threat actors target manufacturing, finance, professional, and healthcare industries. However, institutions in the education sector are the new big target of threat actors. In 2022, malware attacks on educational institutions have seen the most significant spike among overall sectors. The education sector also encountered the highest average weekly number of cyber attacks in the same year.

Ransomware as a primary threat

Ransomware is the most profitable type of malware. After gaining access to the victim’s devices and files, ransomware actors encrypt them demanding ransom payment for decrypting them. Ransomware is mainly spread via e-mail attachments, ads, URLs, and websites. In 2022, there were more than 493 million ransomware attacks worldwide, with the United States being the most targeted country. In 2022, LockBit was the most detected ransomware family worldwide. In addition, new ransomware families are being discovered each year. Ransomware attacks are known to target the most critical industries, such as healthcare, manufacturing, and government facilities. Recently, ransomware has become an even bigger threat, with ransomware as a service (RaaS) business model becoming more widespread. Through this service, cyber criminals sell access to malware, allowing cyber criminals with limited skills to launch a ransomware attack. As of the first quarter of 2022, there were over 30 active RaaS and extortion groups worldwide, up from nearly 20 in the year prior.

Industry trends

With the launch of the AI chatbot ChatGPT in November 2022, concerns have been rising around its possible usage in cyber crime. Specifically, the AI-powered chatbot is trained to create human-like texts in a shorter time, without spelling errors, which are the primary identifiers of a phishing e-mail. Subsequently, ChatGPT has made it much easier to write texts for phishing e-mails. Additionally, discussions about whether it is possible to trick ChatGPT into writing malware are on the rise. Although not as widespread as malware that targets traditional systems, mobile malware is a growing threat. The most common variant of this is RiskTool, which includes cryptocurrency miners that generate coins using the target device’s data. In 2022, Peru was the leading market worldwide by mobile phishing attack encounter rate. In the same year, three in four IT professionals and working adults reported an SMS phishing or smishing attack.

State of cyber security and malware prevention

With companies well aware of the growing malware threat, overall security measures are increasing. The most widely implemented form of these has been intrusion detection, aimed at catching an attack at its onset. Meanwhile, companies have been testing security with phishing attack simulations. As a result, the average failure rate was between eight and 14 percent, with the electronics manufacturers showing the highest failure rates. Another way for companies to combat cyber security threats is employee training. In 2022, 44 percent of the companies surveyed said their organization provided computer-based training. The awareness of cyber security matters among the general adult population is still less than optimal, as most adults still aren’t familiar with the full extent of malware, with terms such as ‘ransomware’ only having been correctly identified by less than 40 percent of those surveyed.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Ani Petrosyan, Aug 31, 2023

Key insights

Annual number of malware attacks worldwide
5.5bn
Most targeted industry by cyber attacks
Manufacturing
Most common cyber threat worldwide
Riskware
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