Criminals release fewer new types of malware last year, double down on ransomware

The number of unique malware samples discovered last year was 60 million, down 6.25 percent from last year’s 64 million. The total number of malware attack attempts also fell, from 8.2 billion to 7.9 billion. Ransomware attacks increased 167 times, from 3.8 million in 2015 to 638 million in 2016. The use of encryption such as SSL and TLS for online communications also helped improve security, according to SonicWall. This was also the first year that the company has seen attack attempts fall.”]

Source: https://www.csoonline.com/article/3166604/criminals-release-fewer-new-types-of-malware-last-year-double-down-on-ransomware.html