Malware at an all-time high

Malware has reached its an all-time high, with the first half of the year being the most active six months ever for the production of viruses and the like, McAfee has found.

The security software firm catalogued ten million new pieces of malware in the first half of the year, the equivalent of around 55,000 a day.

Six million were found in the last quarter and globally, AutoRun malware and password-stealing Trojans were the top two threats.

Cyber attackers used major events such as the World Cup and Middle East conflicts to promote scams and ‘poison’ internet searches, while two ‘dead’ botnets. Storm Worm and Kraken, were found to be on the rise again.

But it’s not all bad news, as according to McAfee, spam grew just 2.5 per cent from Q1 2010.