40% of all fake antiviruses created in 2010

So far this year, 34,8% of all computers worldwide are infected, and 5.40% of them have been infected with a fake antivirus, generating benefits of $34 million a month ($415 million a year) for hackers

Fake antiviruses, also known as rogueware, are programs that enter user computers and warn of massive infections. Then, they ‘invite’ users to buy a solution to their problem. However, once users have given away their credit card data and money, they are left with a useless solution for a non-existent problem.

PandaLabs, the anti-malware laboratory at Panda Security –The Cloud Security Company–, has warned of the recent proliferation of fake antiviruses (also known as ’rogueware’), as 40% of all fake antiviruses ever have been created this year. That is, ever since this type of malicious code was first reported four years ago, 5,651,786 unique rogueware strains have been detected, out of which 2,285,629 have appeared from January to October 2010.