Malware Threats Increased By 36% YoY According to Symantec CyberSecurity Study

In 2015, the number of zero-day vulnerabilities discovered more than doubled to 54, a 125 percent increase from the year before. Or put another way, a new zero-day vulnerability was found every week (on average) in 2015. In 2013, the number of zero-day vulnerabilities (23) doubled from the year before. In 2014, the number held relatively steady at 24, leading us to conclude that we had reached a plateau. That theory was short-lived. The 2015 explosion in zero-day discoveries reaffirms the critical role they play in lucrative targeted attacks. Given the value of these vulnerabilities, it’s not surprising that a market has evolved to meet demand. In fact, at the rate that zero-day vulnerabilities are being discovered, they may become a commodity product. Targeted attack groups exploit the vulnerabilities until they are. Symantec discovered more than 430 million new unique pieces of malware in 2015, up 36 percent from the year before. Perhaps what is most remarkable is that these numbers no longer surprise us. As real life and online become indistinguishable from each other, cybercrime has become a part of our daily lives. Attacks against businesses and nations hit the headlines with such regularity that we’ve become numb to the sheer volume and acceleration of cyber threats. Do CISOs and CSOs feel as vulnerable as this study suggests? Share your comments with the Cloud and Cyber Security Center: http://cloudandcybersecurity.blogspot.com/