Kaspersky identified 411,000 malware programs a day in 2023

In December 2023, the Kaspersky cybersecurity software publisher released yearly statistics in its Security Bulletin, covering the period from November 2022 to October 2023. Over those twelve months, Kaspersky’s cyber experts identified a total of 125 million malware files, or 410,000 a day.

Devices running on Windows remain the preferred target of cybercriminals, with 88% of identified files. In regard to types of attacks, Kaspersky shows an increase in malware hidden in documents, making up 10% of the identified files. More specifically, the report indicates a 54% increase in malware enclosed in PDF and Microsoft Office documents, with 24,000 files a day.

The use of backdoors increased more dramatically yet, going from 15,000 to 40,000 daily files between 2022 and 2023. However, Trojan horses remain the most popular type of malware. Kaspersky also mentions that, over the same period, its cyber protection solutions prevented more than 190,000 ransomware attacks and 325,000 infections targeting bank accounts.