Malware Statistics & Facts: Frequency, Impact & Cost

Top 5 Malware and Ransomware Security Statistics

1. 560,000 new pieces of malware are detected each day.
2. There are currently more than 1 billion malware programs out there.
3. 4 companies are attacked by ransomware every minute.
4. 17 million brand new malware instances are registered every month.
5. 75% of all devices that are infected with malware in some form are routers.

Virus And Malware Detection Data Breach Statistics

• 560,000 new pieces of malware are found every single day of the year according to experts who study the subject professionally.
• 17 million brand new malware instances are registered every single month of the year according to the same experts.
• 10 billion attacks were registered by the companies that closely watch the world's global cybersecurity problems.
• 2020 saw the number of detected malware variants across the globe rise by 62%.
• 7% of websites that officials who work on cybersecurity for Google tested for malware were found to be infected with at least one virus or form of ransomware.
• The rise of COVID-19 brought in a significant jump in the number of malware sites on a global basis.
• 50 websites that Google finds each week are found to have at least one form of malware.
• 75% of all devices that are infected with malware in some form are routers.
• 3.2 billion malware attacks happened to users during the first half of 2020.
• 560 healthcare facilities in the United States were affected by some form of ransomware attacks in 2020.
• 1,681 universities and colleges in the United States have been affected by 84 separate ransomware attacks in 2020.
• 90% of all American financial institutions have experienced some form of ransomware attack in 2020.
• 204,000 Americans are known to have had someone attempt to login to their bank accounts in 2020.
• 9 in 10 of all American financial institutions have been targeted by at least some form of ransomware attack in 2020.
• 246 ransomware attacks have been aimed at American government organizations with an estimated total cost of $52.88 billion in 2020.
• A single ransomware attack cost officials 7 million dollars in New Orleans in 2020.

Computer Virus Security Stats

• 47% of all Chinese computers are known to be infected with some form of malware.
• 42% of all computers in Turkey are known to be infected with some form of malware.
• 39% of all computers in Taiwan are known to be infected with some form of malware.
• 58% of all known computer malware is known to come from trojans.
• 13% of all computer malware infections are known to come from viruses.
• 9% of all malware infections across the globe are known to come from scripts.
• 53% of all computer viruses are known to be spread by the use of .exe files.
• 6% of all known computer viruses are spread by the use of pdf files.
• 21% of all infected files that are sent by email are known to be infected as a result of executables.
• 46% of all hackers who are sending malware are choosing to deliver their malware to unsuspecting clients primarily via the use email to another person or company.
• Cryptojacking attempts are known to have increased by 163% in 2020.
• From 2017 to 2018, the number of hackers who are known to be using destructive malware. has increased by 25%.
• The ILOVEYOU virus is known to have caused $10 billion of damage to people worldwide when it was spread in 2009.

Mobile Malware and Ransomware Statistics

• 14 million new malware attempts to infect the world's mobile phones were recorded by mobile devices during every quarter of 2020.
• 30.3% of all mobile phones are known to be infected in Iran. This is the highest rate in the world.
• 48% of all malware is AdWare. That makes AdWare the most common type of malware that is seen on mobile phones and one of the hardest to remove.
• 20% of all malware found on mobile phones are known to have come from RiskTool infections.
• 47.15% of all devices that are found to infected with at least one form of malware are Android mobile phones.
• 1% of all devices that are found to infected with malware are iPhone mobile phones.
• 19 harmful apps that are known to contain at least one form of malware were available to download on Google Play in 2020.
• Apps containing varied types of malware had 335 million total downloads in 2020.
• 38,000 mobile banking Trojans were found in 2020.
• 2.5 million mobile banking Trojan attacks happened in September 2018.
• 1.2% of its mobile banking users in Turkey were found to have been affected by the Trojans.
• 47% of all free Android antivirus programs available to download were found to be unable detect any form of dangerous malware.
• 8 out of the 21 most popular free apps found to be unable to to register and report to their users even even the most basic of malware threats.
• The first microprocessor was developed in 1971.
• 1986 was the year the very first computer virus was developed. It was a boot sector virus that was dubbed brain.
• Amjad Farooq Alvi and Basit Farooq Alvi are brothers. The two Pakistani nationals created the brain computer virus.
• The first computer virus was spread when people copied floppy disks from one user to the next.
• 1988 saw the creation of the world's first computer worm. The worm was called Morris Worm in honor of creator Robert Morris.
• 1986 was the year Congress passed the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. This made it a crime for people to who were not unauthorized access to invade protected computers.
• Robert Morris was the first person convicted as a result of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
• 1982 saw the development of the first Mac specific virus. It was called Elk Cloner. A fifteen year old boy wrote it to impress his friends.
• 1989 saw the creation of the world's first piece of ransomware.
• The first piece of ransomware was called the AIDS Trojan.
• The world's first ISP was TheWorld. It was available in the United States in 1989.
• The world's first botnet was known as the EarthLink Spam botnet. Botnet began in 2000.
• 25% of all email spam at one point came solely from the Earthlink Spam botnet. Khan C. Smith created it. Earthlink won a $25 million dollar judgement against Smith.

FAQs

How Many Computer Viruses Are There?

• 250,000 computer viruses are registered every single day of the year.
• 62% of all Macs are infected with computer viruses. 5 infected files are found per user.
• 3.6 million American computers have been infected with malware more than once.
• 6000 new computer malware viruses are created by malicious individuals and released to the public every single month.
• 32% of the world's computers are believed to have been infected with a virus at some point in time.
• Conflicker is the most prolific computer virus of all time. The virus is known to have infected computer users in 200 countries across the world. It is still active today.

How Common Are Computer Viruses?

Computer viruses are most common in the United States India and Japan. Taiwan and Ukraine are not far behind for most number of ransomware victims affected.

• 61% of all American companies and public organizations have experienced some form of malware activity in 2020.
• 74% of all American companies and public organizations have experienced some form of malware activity from ransomware groups in 2021.
• 75% of all American companies and public organizations have experienced some form of malware activity in 2021.
• The number of computer viruses being made is at all time high since the tracking of viruses first began.
• 47% of American businesses have taken steps to formally prepare themselves and their employees against computer viruses.
• 21% of companies and businesses in The Netherlands have taken steps to formally prepare themselves and their employees against computer viruses.
• 77% of Americans are concerned with being harmed as a result of computer viruses.
• 77% of American Adults have at least antivirus program on their home computer.

How Much Malware Is Created Every Day?

• 317 million new pieces of malware were created in 2014 according to a data breach investigations report.
• 2020 saw a 5.2% in the number of malware when compared with 2019.
• 30,000 will face a cyberjacking attempt each day of the year.
• There's a new attack on someone somewhere with a piece of malware every 39 seconds.
• 24,000 pieces of malware are blocked by mobile apps every single day of the year.
• 3,809,448 records are stolen are stolen as a result of breaches every single day of the year.
• 158,727 records are stolen are stolen as a result of breaches every single hour of every single day of the year.
• 2,645 records are stolen are stolen as a result of breaches every minute of every single hour of every single day of the year.
• 44 records are stolen are stolen as a result of breaches every minute of every single hour of every single day of the year.
• 1 in 3 Americans will be affected by malware, ddos attacks, cyber attacks, phishing attacks, and cybersecurity threats on their home or work computer.

What Is The Success Rate Of Malware?

• 304 million reported ransomware attacks were reported globally in 2020 by experts in cybersecurity.
• 37,700 ransomware attacks were reported every hour of every single day in 2020.
• 578 ransomware attacks were reported to global authorities every single minute of every single hour of every single day of 2020.
• 21% of all reported security breaches in the United States happened during the firs three quarters of 2020 involved some form of ransomware.
• Ransomware attacks in the United States increased by 311% in 2020.
• The cost for settling attacks a result of ransomware in the United States in 2020 reached over $350 million.
• According to published reports, the average ransomware demand in the United States in 2020 was $200,000.
• In 2018, the average ransomware demand was $5,000.
• The largest payout for a demand as a result of ransomware was $40 million in 2021.
• The number or ransomware attacks in the United States has risen 232% since 2019.
• 46% of the victims of ransomware who paid the attackers behind the ransomware got their data back after paying the demanded ransom.
• 10% of all data breaches involve some form of ransomware.
• 78% of all American organizations have experienced at least some form of email-based ransomware attacks during 2021.
• 68% of all American organizations were infected by the problem of ransomware in 2021.
• 2 in 3 companies that experienced some form of ransomware in 2020 were attacked by more than one form of ransomware in 2020.
• 37% of all global organizations have reported that they were the victim of some kind of attempt at ransomware attack during 2021.
• The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center has had 2,084 ransomware reports from January to July 31, 2021.
• The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center states that reports of ransomware are up 62% since 2021.
• 85% of all ransomware attacks happened to users with windows computers.
• 7% of all ransomware attacks happened to users with Mac computers.
• 3% of all ransomware attacks happened to users with android cellphones.
• 1% of all ransomware attacks happened to users with iphone cellphones.
• 14 of the 16 American critical infrastructure sectors had a ransomware attack according to officials at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
• 130 different ransomware strains have been detected in 2020 alone according to experts.
• 78.5% of all ransomware found falls into the GandCrab ransomware family.
• 94.5% of all ransomware is in the form of Windows-based executable files.
• Educational institutions are the most common targets for ransomware.
• Other industries most at risk for ransomware attacks are retail, legal services, IT, manufacturing, energy, transportation, healthcare, local governments and financial institutions.
• 9 in 10 ransomware incidents did not result in any kind of overall loss,
• The median loss in which there was a financial loss was $11,150 for all industries across all attempts at ransomware.
• The lowest recorded loss as a result of ransomware was $70.
• The highest recorded loss as a result of ransomware was $1.2 million.
• 12% of all American victims of ransomware paid out on their ransomware attacks during the third quarter of 2021.
• $590 million in ransomware related activities took place during the first six months of 2021.
• Ransomware cost Americans $416 million in 2020.

What Is The Biggest Source Of Malware?

• 67% of all ransomware attempts in the United States involved some form of phishing.
• 36% of all ransomware attempts in the United States are attributed to a lack of cyber awareness at work or at home.
• 36% of all ransomware attempts in the United States are attributed to users having weak passwords at home or at work that were easily breached by hackers.
• 30% of all ransomware attempts in the United States are attributed to failing to create effective computer and data management policies at home or at work that were easily breached by hackers.
• 25% of all ransomware attempts in the United States are attributed to poor user practices at home or at work that were easily breached by hackers.
• 16% of all ransomware attempts in the United States are attributed to either malicious advertising that the user clicked or websites that contained ransomware designed to trap people into clicking on links.

How Much Money Is Lost From Malware?

• Ransomware costs for the largest instances of ransomware reached an average of $4.62 million during 2021.
• $570,000 was the average ransomware paid out in the first half of 2021.
• $312,000 was the average ransomware paid out in the first half of 2020.
• 58% of all Americans organizations that had computers that were infected with some form of ransomware agreed to pay a ransom to the hackers in 2021.
• 34% of all Americans organizations that had computers that were infected with some form of ransomware agreed to pay a ransom to the hackers in 2020.
• 25% of all Americans organizations that had computers that were infected with some form of ransomware agreed to pay a ransom to the hackers in 2019.
• 32% of all Americans organizations that had computers that were infected with some form of ransomware and agreed to pay a ransom to the hackers in 2019 had to make an at least one additional ransom payment in order to regain full access to all of their data and systems.
• The single biggest demand for funds from one company came to $50 million during the first half of 2021.
• The average downtime as a result of a ransomware attack on American companies was 22 days in 2021, 19 days in 2020, and 16 days in 2019.
• Ransomware is expected to cost the world $20 billion by 2025, and $80 billion by 2030.
• Ransomware cost American companies and workers $159.4 billion in downtime in 2021.
• 34,142,385 individual records kept by American companies were impacted by ransomware in some way in 2021.
• 142,855 individual records kept by American companies were impacted in some way on average per each individual ransomware attack.
• Residents of North America nations saw a 180% increase in the number of ransomware attacks in 2021.
• Residents of Europe saw a 234% rise in the number of ransomware attacks in 2021.
• 68% of all organizations in India reported that they had experienced at least ransomware attack in 2021.
• 25 attacks using ransomware netted the perpetrators $145.7 million from their victims in the United States.
• 61 ransomware attacks in the United States took place in the state of California in 2022. This makes California the state where ransomware attacks were most likely to happen.
• 38 ransomware attacks in the United States took place in the state of Massachusetts in 2021. This makes Massachusetts the second most likely state where ransomware attacks were most likely to happen.
• 37 ransomware attacks in the United States took place in the state of Texas in 2021. This makes Texas the third most likely state where ransomware attacks were most likely to happen.
• 36 ransomware attacks in the United States took place in the state of New York in 2021. This makes New York the fourth most likely state where ransomware attacks were most likely to happen.
• 36 ransomware attacks in the United States took place in 2021 in the state of New York. This makes New York the fourth most likely state where ransomware attacks were most likely to happen.

What Is The Most Difficult Malware To Remove?

• Ransomware is the hardest type of malware to remove according to 45% of all business owners.
• 25% of all business owners named worms as the hardest type of malware to remove in 2021.
• 35% of all American computer users felt that Adware was the hardest type of malware to remove from their computer or phone.
• 56% of all American computer users attempted to remove at least one form of malware from their home or work computer in 2021.
• 23% of all American users had attempted to remove at least one form of malware from their home or work computer on their own felt they were successful in doing so in 2021.

Wrapping Up

The alarming malware statistics and facts presented in this blog post underscore the urgent need for individuals and organizations to fortify their cyber defenses. The prevalence of ransomware attacks, the financial losses incurred, and the evolving tactics of cybercriminals highlight the ever-present cyber threats that we face. It is imperative to understand the average cost of these attacks, not just in terms of ransom payments, but also in downtime, lost productivity, and reputational damage.

The rise of ransomware gangs and the increasing sophistication of malicious URLs and phishing sites demand a proactive approach to cybersecurity. Investing in robust cybersecurity measures, such as employee training, strong passwords, regular backups, and up-to-date security software, is no longer optional. It is a necessity for mitigating the cyber risk and protecting against the devastating consequences of cyber crime.

The biggest data breach is always the one that could have been prevented. Let us learn from these statistics and take action to secure our digital future. The data breach report is a wake-up call, urging us to prioritize cybersecurity spending and implement effective strategies to combat cyber incidents. By working together and adopting a vigilant approach, we can minimize the impact of these threats and build a more resilient digital ecosystem.

References

1. https://dataprot.net/statistics/malware-statistics/
2. https://www.comparitech.com/antivirus/malware-statistics-facts/
3. https://legaljobs.io/blog/malware-statistics/

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