Hackers have been on the prowl since 1986, and they’ve only gotten more sophisticated over time.
Brain, the first piece of malware in computing history, was crafted by two Pakistani brothers in 1986. Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure, tracked the brothers down last year [2], and while they claimed that the virus was created with innocent intentions, the larger malware market hasn’t been so mild-mannered.
TrendMicro [3] followed the evolution of malware from viruses to worms all the way to the current hacktivist era.
Here are a few highlights from their infographic:
- There were 30 major outbreaks resulting in more than 37,000,000 infected files in 2004.
- A person’s credit card information is worth between $7 and $25 on the underground market.
- 92 percent of digital threats arrived through the Internet in 2008.
- There are almost 12,600 new malware threats per hour.
- Three fake antivirus providers raked in $130 million during their malware campaign.
For more information on malware, check out the Trend Micro infographic [3].
