F-Secure: Malware samples doubled in one year

Finnish security vendor F-Secure has collected twice as many malicious software samples this year than it has over the last 20 years, a trend that highlights the growing danger of malicious software on the Internet.

Through the end of 2006 and 20 years prior, F-Secure counted a total of 250,000 samples, said Mikko Hypponen, F-Secure's chief research officer. This year alone, 250,000 samples have been counted, he said.

Statistics on malware from antivirus companies can vary since the data is often derived from what their customers experience while using their software, and it depends on how widely that software is used.