Latin America. Malware is dangerous as it can disrupt, disable or take control of users' computer systems. Malware has evolved over the years and comes with different functionalities depending on the cybercriminal's targets.
According to Atlas VPN research, hackers attacked desktop users more than 269.97 million times in the first quarter of 2020.
The infecting virus was detected 28.78 million times and accounted for 10.66% of total attacks. The infecting virus attaches to the executable software and then spreads to other programs or networks that use the same infected software.
Worm malware was detected 25.31 million times and accounted for 9.38% of the total.
Worm malware spreads copies of itself to other computers without the help of users or other programs. A computer worm can harm users in the form of stolen data, overload a shared network, or even take control of a computer.
Rachel Welch, Chief Operating Officer of Atlas VPN, shares her thoughts on malware attacks in the first quarter of 2020:
"It's safe to assume that threat actors became more active in the first quarter of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people started working from home, which created opportunities for hackers to infect unsecured networks. We can expect similar or even higher figures in the second quarter of 2020."
Network scans detect most malware
Antivirus software and firewalls offer a variety of scans. The most common are network, real-time, web, on-demand, behavioral, email, and memory analytics.
It turns out that a network scan detected more than 37% of the malware in the first quarter of 2020. In other words, network analysis detected more than 100 million malicious programs. A network scan inspects network traffic to detect and block cyberattacks.
A real-time scan detected 22% or more of 59 million malicious programs. Real-time scanning scans files and programs every time they are run, opened, copied, or modified in any way.
Web Security's analysis detected 15% or more than 40 million malicious attacks. Web Security scanning evaluates websites and blocks them if they are potentially dangerous.
Source: Atlas VPN.
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